MND TO CLEAR MINEFIELDS ON OUTLYING ISLANDS OVER SEVEN YEARS
ROC Central News Agency
2006-11-01 15:48:01
Taipei, Nov. 1 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) will earmark NT$4.2 billion (US$126,506 million) over the next seven years to clear all anti-personnel minefields on the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu, a ministry official said Wednesday.
The MND has outsourced part of the work to the private sector and is also training its soldiers for the job, according to Yang Kung-chuan, deputy director of the ministry's joint warfare division.
Yang made the remarks while attending a news conference held by the Eden Social Welfare Foundation for the release of its 2006 landmine monitoring report.
According to the foundation, 151 countries have signed an international convention banning anti-personnel landmines, which shows that there is a global consensus on the prohibition of this destructive weapon.
Foundation officials said the global trade in anti-personnel landmines has been completely stopped, adding that illegal transfers of anti-personnel landmines has become very rare nowadays.
Russia, Myanmar and Chechnya are among only a small number of countries that continue to use anti-personnel landmines, and a total of 750 square meters of minefields have been cleared around the world over the past year, they said.
Although Taiwan has enacted a law to control landmines, it has not banned and destroyed all anti-personnel landmines on the grounds that they can help deter illegal immigrants from China and cross-Taiwan Strait smuggling activities, they pointed out.
Also during the news conference, opposition Kuomintang Legislator Ting Shou-chung urged the MND to remove all landmines from Taiwan's territory to "comform with the global trend."
(By Y.F. Low)
ENDITEM/Li
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