Sending marines back to Taiping on the table: defense official
ROC Central News Agency
2016/07/13 16:33:24
Taipei, July 13 (CNA) Sending Taiwan's marines back to Taiping, the largest land feature in the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea, can be considered as an option in response to the need to defend the country's sovereignty over the Taiwan-controlled island, a senior defense official said Wednesday.
Asked by a lawmaker during a legislative committee meeting on whether the military will increase its personnel and send marines back to Taiping, Deputy Defense Minister Cheng De-mei (鄭德美) said changes to the deployment of soldiers will be made as necessary and consideration could be given to this idea.
The top priority is to safeguard the country's sovereignty over its territory, he added.
In response to questions by lawmaker Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) of the opposition Kuomintang on the military's preparation for China's plan to ramp up combat readiness, Cheng said the military has response measures in place.
Since Taiwanese marines were ordered to withdraw from Taiping in 1999 in a gesture of goodwill to reduce regional tensions, it has been garrisoned by Coast Guard personnel.
The Coast Guard officers stationed there have received the same combat training as marines, Cheng said during the hearing in the Legislature's Internal Administration Committee.
Cheng's remarks came one day after an international tribunal delivered a ruling seen as having an adverse impact on Taiwan's claims in the South China Sea region.
On Tuesday, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague gave its ruling on a case brought by the Philippines against China that focused in part on whether islands claimed by China were entitled to 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones.
The court ruled that none of the land formations in the Spratly Islands, including Taiwan-controlled Taiping Island (Itu Aba), were islands under international law and were therefore not entitled to exclusive economic zones.
During another meeting in the Legislature's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, lawmakers also passed a proposal to suggest the Ministry of National Defense immediately begin to study the possibility of sending marines back to Taiping in an effort to safeguard the country's sovereignty.
The proposal also urged President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to visit Taiping to give a speech to assert Taiwan's sovereignty claims and rally the Coast Guard officers and other personnel stationed there.
Meanwhile, Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) said during the Internal Administration Committee meeting that although the result of the ruling was among the various scenarios the government had prepared for, the outcome was still unacceptable.
Taiwan will make every effort to assert its rights over the South China Sea islands and their surrounding waters, based on the principle of maintaining regional peace, Yeh said.
The committee's lawmakers also passed a proposal suggesting President Tsai to visit Taiping and call an international conference there to demonstrate Taiwan's effort to protect its territory.
Taiping lies about 1,600 kilometers southwest of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan.
Taiwan has long defined the 0.51-square kilometer Taiping as an island that can sustain human habitation and economic life. Taiwan took control of Taiping in 1956.
Six countries -- Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam -- fully or partially claim the islands in the South China Sea and their surrounding waters that are strategically critical lanes for ships and planes that navigate in the region.
(By Chen Chun-hua, Tang Pei-chun and Elaine Hou)
ENDITEM/ke
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