A US and Japanese consensus on the need to assert peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is a positive development for Taiwan, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said yesterday, adding that the government has no plans to dispatch the marine corps back to Itu Aba (Taiping Island, 太平島) at the moment.
Chiu was the director of the National Security Bureau before he was assigned to the new post on Feb. 23 by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
He attended a meeting yesterday of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee to deliver his first report for the new post.
Photo: CNA
Answering media queries before the session, Chiu lauded the affirmation by the US and Japanese defense officials of “the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
Taiwan has been under the pressure of a big, hostile country, and the US and Japanese consensus is a positive step toward further cooperation with Taiwan, he said.
The consensus was part of the conclusions of a 2+2 meeting involving US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi and Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi in Tokyo on Tuesday.
“We remain opposed to any unilateral action that seeks to change the status quo, including in the East and South China seas,” they said in a joint statement.
During the legislative session, Chiu acknowledged that the Taiwan Strait might be an area of potential conflict, in response to a question by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) to name the top five hot spots where military conflicts are mostly likely to break out in the near term.
Chiu also named the China-India border, the South China Sea and the Middle East as potential hot spots.
Chiang asked Chiu if he thought tensions in the South China Sea are escalating, and if Germany, the UK and France are following in the US’ steps when they announced plans to send warships to patrol the region.
Tensions in the South China Sea are indeed rising because of Chinese expansionism, while the US hopes to maintain freedom of navigation in the area by engaging its allies, Chiu said.
Allies Germany, France and the UK would reach a consensus first before making a similar move, he added.
Asked if the ministry would dispatch marines to Itu Aba again, Chiu said that the ministry does not plan to do so at this time, adding that the government “had a reason” in replacing a marine corps with coast guard personnel on the island.
The ministry is reinforcing the island’s defense deployments through other means, Chiu said.
In June last year, the ministry dispatched some marines to the Dongsha Atoll to receive short-term training, it said.
Separately yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked the US and Japan for drawing attention to the need for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
The government would continue to work closely with the US, Japan and other like-minded partners to defend democratic institutions, a rules-based international order, as well as regional peace, stability and prosperity, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
RSS