The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) is soon to deploy larger patrol vessels to Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) in the disputed South China Sea, National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) told lawmakers yesterday.
Tsai made the remarks at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee when asked to confirm a local media report indicating that US and Chinese vessels had been spotted earlier this month near the Taiwan-controlled island.
Taiping Island, the largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, lies 1,600km southwest of Kaohsiung and is administered as part of the city’s Cijin District (旗津).
Photo: JR Wu, Reuters
The USS Dewey, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, completed a freedom of navigation operation near the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) on Friday, a statement by the US’ 7th Fleet said.
“This freedom of navigation operation upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging restrictions on innocent passage imposed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan, and Vietnam,” the statement read.
The Chinese-language United Daily News also reported that an unidentified Chinese warship sailed near Taiping Island on Friday.
Tsai did not give a direct answer when asked to comment on the report and if any US or Chinese vessels had entered Taiwan’s territorial waters around Taiping on Friday.
He only said that the CGA had a full grasp of the movements of all foreign vessels detected near Taiping, declining to provide more details for confidentiality reasons.
If a foreign vessel sails within 12 nautical miles (22.2km) of Taiping, the CGA would report the incident to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the latter would take appropriate measures, he said, without elaborating.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) and Charles Chen (陳以信) expressed concerns over an increase in confrontations between US and Chinese military ships in the South China Sea and asked whether the government would have better ways to protect the island.
“In the past, I made motions that we should have marines stationed on Taiping Island, but I did not receive any response to my motions. I am making the same motion again this time as we are reviewing the National Security Bureau’s budget plan,” Chiang said.
“As marines have already been stationed on the Pratas Islands [Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島], another Taiwanese territory in the South China Sea, and waters near Taiping Island could become a flashpoint for conflicts, we should elevate the power of intimidation to protect Taiping Island, which could be invaded by another country during conflicts,” Chiang said.
Tsai said the bureau has been analyzing Chinese military activities around Taiping Island and has proposed response plans.
“The Coast Guard Administration is deploying larger ships to regularly patrol Taiping Island, which should help stabilize the situation there,” he said. “We need to asses the situation and take appropriate actions accordingly. If the situation is not in our favor, any actions from our part would escalate regional tensions.”
About 200 coast guard personnel trained by the Marine Corps are stationed on Taiping and drills are held regularly.
The island is also claimed by Vietnam, China and the Philippines.
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