Page Two

South China Sea Watch No. 3

An overview of key developments in the South China Sea this week.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/07/03
By: Shuhei Omi

Indonesia this week announced plans to develop the Natuna Islands into a tourist destination. iyqmr2zr406kghnn40eo326yi6d0rnTo that end, the tourism minister said he plans to speed up development of Natuna’s infrastructure, the Jakarta Globe reported.

Simultaneously, the Indonesian Navy announced it will build a naval base on Natuna to maintain Indonesian sovereignty, the Global Indonesian Voices says.

Although Indonesia’s sovereignty over the islands is not disputed, its exclusive economic zone overlaps with China’s nine-dash line. An Indonesian warship and Chinese fishermen were involved in a skirmish on June 20 in Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone, which prompted a visit by President Joko Widodo’s to Natuna on June 23.

On June 27, the state-run People’s Daily said China is fully capable of removing a Philippines military base on a disputed atoll in the South China Sea, but is exercising “high restraint.” Its commentary comes before an imminent ruling in the Court of Permanent Arbitration on territorial disputes between China and Philippines. The Philippines Navy deliberately grounded a ship on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in 1999, posting a dozen military personnel on the ship. China has repeatedly called for the ship to be removed. In 2014, the Chinese coast guard blocked access to Filipino supply ships, forcing the Philippines to airdrop provisions.     [FULL  STORY]

CPC’s Unleaded 95 below NT$25 per liter after adjustment

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-03
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taiwan’s state-run CPC Corporation announced on Sunday that it will lower its gasoline and 6766821diesel prices by NT$0.2 per liter for both from midnight on Monday, with the 95 octane unleaded price falling below the mark of NT$25 again.

According CPC’s analysis, the fear that Britain’s exit from the European Union might cause global economy to slow down had brought down international crude oil prices, which was later slightly bolstered up by an increase in U.S. crude stocks last week and the threat of a strike by Norwegian oil workers.

According to CPC’s official website, the prices of 92 octane unleaded, 95 octane unleaded, 98 unleaded and super diesel will go down to NT$23.4, NT$24.9, NT$26.9 and NT$20.9 per liter, respectively after the price adjustment.

CPC calculates its weekly fuel prices based on a weighted oil price formula that is comprised of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude (7D3B).     [FULL  STORY]

Taitung farmer calls for respect from balloon pilots

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/03
By: Tyson Lu and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, July 3 (CNA) A farmer on Sunday said he did not welcome hot air balloons landing on

From Barkely Lin's Facebook page

From Barkely Lin’s Facebook page

his land and called for equal treatment and respect of private property during a hot air balloon festival in the southeastern county of Taitung.

Barkely Lin (林義隆) said on his Facebook page that he “has become a farmer who does not welcome hot air balloon landings” since a balloon landed on his pineapple farm and damaged some dozen pineapple plants for which he was never been compensated four years ago.

The Taiwan International Balloon Festival opened on July 1 and runs through Aug. 7 in Taitung’s Luye Township.

Lin, who lives in the township’s Yong’an Village which is located just north of the field where balloons take off and land, asked why this “paid tourist sport” can “freely land on private farmland?”     [FULL  STORY]

Ministry seeks to debunk missile launch conspiracies

MISTAKEN AND MISLEADING:The Ministry of National Defense rejected allegations by a former commander, saying the Hsiung Feng III does not have a launch key

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 04, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The Ministry of National Defense on Saturday issued a detailed news release to debunk a

Coast Guard Administration personnel watch as a Taoist priest accompanies relatives of Huang Wen-chung — a fishing boat captain who was killed when a Hsiung Feng III missile hit his vessel — at Singda Harbor in Kaohsiung yesterday. Photo: CNA

Coast Guard Administration personnel watch as a Taoist priest accompanies relatives of Huang Wen-chung — a fishing boat captain who was killed when a Hsiung Feng III missile hit his vessel — at Singda Harbor in Kaohsiung yesterday. Photo: CNA

string of conspiracy theories surrounding the launch of a missile on Friday last week, that resulted in the death of a Taiwanese fisherman and three injuries.

The release started by asking how a noncommissioned officer could be allowed to “do it alone” without receiving the consent of his superiors.

The ministry said the warship’s commander, senior arms officer and missile launch control sergeant had all failed to follow standard operating procedure before the sailor chose the wrong operation mode, committing a series of disciplinable mistakes that resulted in the historic fiasco.

The ministry said it had learned a tough lesson from the mishap, adding that from next week, it would enforce stricter training programs for all military units, particularly in the area of standard operating procedures, to prevent a similar incident from occurring.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan used all means to notify China of missile mishap: official

The China Post
Date: July 4, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — China should have received notification from Taiwan about the Navy’s accidental launching of a missile into the Taiwan Strait on Friday, July 1, given that Taipei has used all available means of communication with Beijing, a senior Taiwanese official in charge of cross-strait affairs said Sunday.

Deputy Minister of Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) was responding to Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, who replied on July 1 that he “had no information,” when asked if the MAC had notified his office of the incident.

Zhang said at that time that Taiwan should provide a “responsible” explanation for the missile mishap earlier that day, calling it a “serious” matter.

In Taipei, the MAC said in a statement that day that it had asked the Straits Exchange Foundation, a semi-official organization responsible for cross-strait negotiations, to notify its Chinese counterpart — the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) — of the situation and ask it to help pass the information to related Chinese government agencies.     [FULL  STORY]

Defense minister ‘likely to stay’ despite missile incident

The China Post
Date: July 3, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan is unlikely to be replaced over the missile misfire despite some lawmakers’ demands he resign to take responsibility, the Central News Agency cited high-ranking officials as saying Saturday.

The country’s national security authorities have made preliminary determinations that the defense minister should not take the blame and step down, as the responsibility should be assumed by the military’s command officers, rather than its administration, the CNA cited unnamed “core” officials as saying.

The sources said Feng has been in office for only more than a month, and there is no need to replace him at present, which would dampen the new government’s authority and image.

But President Tsai Ing-wen will decide what responsibility Feng should bear now that she has returned to Taiwan from her overseas official trip, said the sources.     [FULL  STORY]

Tsai welcomed by Congress members, Taiwanese American communities in LA

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-02
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

President Tsai Ing-wen touched down in Los Angeles on June 30 as a stopover on her way

Republican U.S. Rep. Ed Royce posted a photo with Tsai Ing-wen in a Tweet late Friday local time.

Republican U.S. Rep. Ed Royce posted a photo with Tsai Ing-wen in a Tweet late Friday local time.

home, where she spent less than 24 hours and was scheduled to meet and join a dinner banquet attended by Taiwanese American communities and political heavyweights.

Tsai reportedly had a phone conversation with former U.S. President Bill Clinton when she was in Los Angeles. “In the conversation, Bill Clinton congratulated Tsai for winning the presidential election earlier this year, and Tsai extended her best wish to his wife Hillary Clinton, who is now running to win in November’s presidential election,” Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Tseng Hou-jen was quoted as saying.

Tsai was first met on the plane by American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt and was then greeted by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairm     [FULL  STORY]

Hanben heritage designated as 8th national historical site

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/02
By: Cheng Ching-wen and Frances Huang

Taipei, July 2 (CNA) The Ministry of Culture (MOC) said Saturday that it has designated the Hanben heritage as the eighth national historical site in Taiwan.

A historical site reviewing committee of the MOC made the decision to declare Hanben heritage a national historic site and also agreed to add “Blehun” which belongs to the Atayal language to the heritage site’s name to demonstrate its cultural traits under the Atayal aboriginal tribe.

The Hanben heritage is located in Nan’ao of Yilan County, eastern Taiwan, and was discovered in 2012 owing to a construction project to improve the Su Hua highway, which connects Yilan and Hualien counties.

After the discovery, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) entrusted Academia Sinica to conduct an archeology study on the Hanben site, digging out a number of ancient relics, including iron, jade, ceramic and stone made items as well stone coffins which contained people’s remains.     [FULL  STORY]

Military morale sapped after apologies, officials say

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 03, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Military officials have been busy apologizing for the past two weeks — for the killing of a dog by soldiers at a military base last week and the accidental firing of a missile by the navy that killed a fishing boat captain on Friday — but a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) official said the repeated expressions of remorse are sapping military morale.

KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) on Friday wrote in a Facebook post that it was wrong for soldiers to abuse and kill dogs and that the military needed to take action to handle such misconduct.

However, he added that when all ranks of the military and the Minister of National Defense have to bow in apology because of the abusers’ behavior, “I believe this hurts the morale and image of the military.”

Hau was responding to an army general’s Facebook post in which the general said he was quitting the army because of the ongoing pressure put on the military over the incident.     [FULL  STORY]

China paper questions motive behind missile misfiring that killed 1

The China Post
Date: July 3, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The misfiring of a missile by Taiwan’s Navy seems to be showing that President Tsai Ing-wen is speeding up the island’s military preparation for battle against China, a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organ claimed Saturday.

An editorial carried by the Chinese version of the Global Times said it was “very shocking” that Taiwan’s military readiness has been raised to a level where a “killer”-class missile could be easily “misfired.”

This “misfired” missile seemingly has at least sent out such a message: Taiwan’s military, since Tsai Ing-wen took office, has been fast speeding up its military readiness for battle targeting the People’s Liberation Army (of China),” said the Global Times editorial.

“And this has something to do with Tsai Ing-wen’s cross-strait political agenda,” said the editorial. Global Times is under the CCP’s organ, People’s Daily.     [FULL  STORY]