Lawmakers and experts yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) envoy to the US Alexander Huang (黃介正) of acting as China’s stooge, after he said that Beijing has the right to claim waters beyond its maritime territory as its exclusive economic zone and that the US has no legal basis to assert that the Taiwan Strait is an “international waterway.”
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said in an online post that most of the world considers the Strait an international waterway, adding that this is important for safeguarding Taiwan.
“We have seen US warships transiting through the Taiwan Strait. It is clearly intended to warn off China against any military moves on Taiwan, and to preserve regional peace and stability,” wrote Wang, who is in Poland on an official visit.
Photo: CNA
“Yet KMT members are speaking against the Strait being an international waterway, even saying that Taiwan should not be embroiled if a conflict were to occur between the US and China in the Strait,” he said.
“It is shameful for our nation to hear such remarks. Taiwanese who have voted for the KMT must wake up to see that it is a party of traitors who are subverting our nation from within to sell it out to the enemy,” Wang wrote.
“Meanwhile, KMT members do not dare to speak about China’s military buildup in preparation to wage war against Taiwan... The existence of the KMT in Taiwan is apparently for the purpose of colluding with China, to help expedite a Chinese invasion of Taiwan,” he added.
Separately, National Taiwan University law professor Chiang Huang-chih (姜皇池) said China’s claim that the Strait is its “internal waters” has no legal standing under international law.
“China is trying to take the Strait under its control to impede the movement of foreign vessels and warships, which is a serious contravention of freedom of navigation and international maritime laws,” Chiang said.
National defense expert Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said Beijing’s claim is the latest move in its military planning, which started with the enforcement of its Maritime Police Law in January last year, followed by its Maritime Traffic Safety Law in September.
“These moves were accompanied by actions, such as Chinese warplanes intruding Taiwan’s airspace and encircling the nation. The Chinese leadership is conducting warfare by combining military strategy and international law,” Su said.
Attorney Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎), chairman of the Taiwan Forever Association, accused the KMT of acting as a stooge for China on the Strait issue, as well as undermining national security and betraying the alliance of democratic countries.
“China unilaterally declared the Taiwan Strait as its internal waters, which alters the ‘status quo’ and contravenes the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” he said.
“The KMT has never changed its core pro-China values. There are tensions between the US and China, but the KMT thinks of nothing to betray Taiwan’s democratic partner — the US — and contrives to sabotage Taiwan’s national security,” he added.
DPP spokesman Huang Shih-chieh (黃世杰) said that Alexander Huang’s remarks conform to China’s stance, adding that he is oblivious to Beijing’s military ambitions to upend regional stability.
“KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) touts his party for being ‘pro-US,’ but his envoy gave Chu a slap in the face and harmed Taiwan’s security situation,” Huang Shih-chieh said.
KMT STATEMENT
KMT officials yesterday in a statement partly backtracked on the matter, saying that the KMT would not accept China claiming the Strait as its internal waters.
“We resolutely welcome all the nations of the world to transit through the Strait’s international waters. They have the legal right to transit by marine vessels and aircraft,” the statement said.
“Foreign vessels transiting through the Strait would help maintain regional peace and security for Taiwan. The KMT believes that different interpretations of the issue should be handled by legal experts and academics,” it said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and