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U.S. knows about Navy's routine missions in Spratlys: MND

ROC Central News Agency

2013/06/04 17:26:07

Taipei, June 4 (CNA) The United States is familiar with Taiwan's regular missions to the Spratly Islands, Vice Defense Minister Andrew Yang said Tuesday, dismissing reports of possible distrust between the two countries.

'There is no problem with the mutual trust between Taiwan and the United States,' Yang said.

He was responding to reports that one of Taiwan's Lafayette frigates encountered a U.S. P-3C anti-submarine aircraft on May 25 while patrolling waters around Taiping Island, the largest island in the Spratlys in the South China Sea.

The reports interpreted the presence of the U.S. plane as conveying a sense of concern over Taiwan's naval patrols, indicating that the mutual trust between the two countries was beginning to show cracks.

'The communications between Taiwan and the United States have been going well. The reports and the analysis were untrue, and the Defense Ministry regrets it,' Yang said.

Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Hsu Pei-shan said neither Taiwan nor the United States did anything provocative and the military would not follow-up on the encounter with the United States.

Hsu said the Navy follows the principles of not creating tensions, not triggering conflicts and lowering hostilities when on its missions.

The Navy frigate felt that the unidentified plane did not act abnormally or show any animosity toward the ship, Hsu said.

According to Hsu, the Navy was on a regular mission to resupply Taiping Island from May 20-28 and was on its way home on May 25 when it spotted the unidentified plane five nautical miles ahead to the ship's port side.

He said that the Navy ship was around 89 nautical miles from Taiping Islet when it spotted the aircraft, which flew south to behind the plane and then east, staying at least five nautical miles away at all times.

It did not fly low around the ship as was reported, Hsu said.

The chief of staff said neighboring countries often conduct routine reconnaissance missions at sea, and that the episode was nothing out of the ordinary.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed, meanwhile, that communications between Taiwan and the U.S. have been good and that mutual trust between the two countries remains 'strong.'

(By Rogge Chen, Elaine Hou, and Lilian Wu)
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