• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

MND forms task force to monitor South China Sea as tension rising

ROC Central News Agency

2011/06/12 00:27:29

Taipei, June 11 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has formed a special task force to monitor the situation in the South China Sea as tension is escalating in the disputed waters, military spokesman Lo Shao-ho said Saturday.

Lo made the remarks after Vietnam announced the previous day that its navy will hold live-fire exercises in the South China Sea on Monday for six hours.

The Vietnamese announcement followed a recent verbal clash with China over sovereignty in the area.

Lo said although the June 13 Vietnamese military drill will take place at an area far away from the disputed waters, the MND decided to keep a close watch on the event amid escalating tension between Vietnam and China over South China Sea sovereignty dispute.

"The special task force is being headed by Vice Defense Minister Andrew Yang," Lo said.

The Vietnamese military exercises will be held around Hon Ong island about 40 kilometers off Quang Nam province in central Vietnam.

Asked if Taiwan's military will take any response measures, Lo just said he is not in a position to make any comment.

The South China Sea includes important shipping routes and reportedly contains rich oil and gas deposits.

Six countries -- Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines -- claim all or part of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea and the Spratly, Paracel and Pratas islands, the Macclesfield Bank and the Scarborough Shoal, which are part of the area.

Taiwan controls the Pratas Islands, the largest in the entire South China Sea, and Taiping Island, the largest isle in the Spratlys.

Foreign Ministry spokesman James Chang said Saturday all the countries involved should avoid taking any unilateral steps to destabilize regional peace and should deal with sovereignty disputes peacefully in accordance with the spirit and principles of international law. (By Emmanuelle Tzeng and Sofia Wu) enditem