Now is not an appropriate time for President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to visit Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島), due to recent skirmishes between Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels in the South China Sea, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday.
Wu made the remarks after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) called on Tsai to visit the Taiwan-controlled island to reaffirm the nation’s sovereignty following the completion of a dredging project on Taiping to allow larger vessels to dock.
Former presidents Chen Shiu- bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic Progressive Party and Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) both visited the island before stepping down, Ma Wen-chun said.
Photo: CNA
Ma Wen-chun, a convener of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, on Tuesday proposed forming a legislative delegation to visit Taiping on May 16.
Asked to comment on the matter at a legislative session yesterday, Wu said that no matter whether Tsai visits, there is no doubt that Taiping is Taiwan’s territory.
Due to skirmishes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea over the past months, now is not an appropriate time for her to visit, he said.
With the Chinese government sending about 20 warships to patrol the South China Sea on a daily basis, a trip from Tsai could create a negative impression of Taiwan to the international community “as a troublemaker in the region,” he said.
Nevertheless, the central government fully respects the rights of Ma Wen-chun and other committee members to visit Taiping for an inspection tour, Wu said.
The Coast Guard Administration announced the completion of the dredging project to allow larger vessels to dock at a pier serving Taiping earlier this year.
The NT$1.7 billion (US$53.35 million) project to dredge sediment and deepen navigation channels would enable 4,000-tonne coast guard vessels to dock at the island for resupply, it said.
Wu also told reporters that China has built “enormous” military bases on three islands surrounding Taiping, but Taipei is not looking to escalate tensions in the strategic waterway.
“China has already created very enormous South China Sea military bases on the three islands surrounding Taiping — Subi Reef [Jhubi Reef, 渚碧礁], Fiery Cross Reef [Yongshu Reef, 永暑島] and Mischief Reef [Meiji Reef, 美濟礁] — and these are all quite close to our Taiping,” he said.
Taiping, the largest of the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), lies 1,600km southwest of Kaohsiung, and is administered by the city’s Cijin District (旗津). It hosts about 200 coast guard personnel trained by the Marine Corps, and is also claimed by China, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The island has a runway long enough to land military resupply flights from Taiwan, but is lightly defended compared with the nearby Chinese-controlled reefs. Chinese forces generally leave the island alone.
China has carried out extensive land reclamation on territory in the South China Sea, building major air force and other military facilities, causing major concern in Washington and around the region.
China’s air force and navy regularly operate nearby the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島).
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats