Several lawmakers voiced concerns yesterday over a plan approved by the Cabinet that could see military personnel withdrawn from two islets in Kinmen County so that the islets can be made into tourist destinations.
The Cabinet in the middle of last month approved a plan for the Ministry of National Defense to hand over control of Dadan (大膽) and Erdan (二膽), two of 12 islets surrounding the main island of Kinmen, to the Kinmen County Government.
The plan will leave the two islets, close to southern China, to the joint management of the National Police Agency, the Coast Guard Administration and the Kinmen County Government, a Cabinet official said.
Noting the historical significance attached to the islets, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said during a legislative committee session that he opposes the military’s full withdrawal from the two islets.
They are military outposts where the Republic of China (ROC) government has recorded significant victories in fending off invasion by the Chinese military since it relocated to Taiwan after losing the civil war in China in 1949, Lin said.
“Only a defeated military would pull back,” he added.
He did not oppose the military reducing its personnel posted on the islets, but he strongly objected to a full military withdrawal.
The military needs to continue to be stationed on the islets for “a symbolic meaning” representing a message to “possible enemies” that Taiwan is determined to safeguard its territory, Lin said.
In response, Minister of National Defense Yen Ming (嚴明), who attended the legislative committee session for the first time after taking up his post in August, said the plan has already been approved by the Cabinet.
The ministry will take advice from lawmakers as reference, he said, but he was silent on possible changes to the plan, which was reported in the local media earlier in the day.
The original plan would see the ministry fully withdraw from Dadan and Erdan next year, but now part of the plan has been revised so that some military personnel will remain posted on the islets, which will be only partly opened for tourism, local newspapers reported.
Other lawmakers concerned about the issue included KMT Legislator Yang Ying-hsiung (楊應雄) of Kinmen County.
The military cannot fully withdraw from the islets, which are important to national defense, Yang said, although he said the islets could be opened for limited tourism.
There have been garrisons on the main islands of Kinmen since the late 1940s.
No civilians currently live on Dadan and Erdan, which lie about 4km from Xiamen on China’s southeastern coast and served as two frontline military outposts following the KMT’s retreat to Taiwan in 1949. Dadan and Erdan have areas of 79 and 28 hectares respectively.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
RSS