President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has instructed the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) to add the name “Taiwan” to its patrol vessels to increase the nation’s international visibility at sea, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said yesterday.
Chang’s statement came after the Chinese-language United Daily News reported earlier that the CGA was ordered by “high-level security officials” to add the name “Taiwan” next to the “Republic of China Coast Guard” designation on patrol vessels.
While the CGA initially denied having received such instructions, Chang said in a statement that the so-called “high-level security official” was Tsai.
Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration via CNA
At the launch of a new coast guard vessel — the Anping (安平) — in Kaohsiung on Dec. 11 last year, Tsai said that the vessel was good, but would be better if it were marked with “Taiwan,” so that coast guard personnel would be more clearly recognized by the international community when enforcing the law at sea, Chang said.
Nearly 300,000 foreign-flagged vessels sail the seas surrounding Taiwan every year, he said.
Coast guard personnel are tasked with patrolling the nation’s territorial waters and combating maritime crimes, he said, adding that they drove away many illegal dredging vessels operating near Lienchang County’s Matsu last year.
They are more burdened after China on Feb. 1 enforced its China Coast Guard Law, he said.
The legislation empowers Chinese coast guard personnel to inspect foreign vessels in waters claimed by China and use weapons — hand-held, ship borne or airborne — on foreign vessels.
Using the name “Taiwan” on CGA vessels would allow coast guard personnel to be better recognized and do their job more safely, Chang said, adding that “no provocation” and “no surrender” remain the government’s abiding positions.
The CGA said that it began adding the name “Taiwan” on some vessels last month, while 225 have yet to have the name added.
Senior adviser to the president Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) applauded Tsai’s move.
Taiwanese consciousness is lacking in the nation and people are glad to see that Tsai is willing to lead Taiwan to become normalized, Koo said in a news release yesterday.
However, Koo also said he hoped that Tsai would modify the Constitution, which is grounded in the “one China” concept, or Taiwan would not be able to break free of its global predicament and the “one China” framework.
Additional reporting by CNA
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
RSS