LINE IN THE SAND:Law enforcement at sea retains ‘room for improvement,’ Coast Guard Administration Minister Wang Chung-yi told legislators yesterday in Taipei
Taipei Times
Date: Apr 24, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter
Illegal mining of sea sand has been a serious problem off Kinmen, with Chinese
Coast Guard Administration Minister Wang Chung-yi holds up three fingers at a news conference in Taipei yesterday, counting the number of Chinese dredgers that have encroached into Taiwanese waters this year. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
dredgers regularly entering the nation’s waters and taking almost 20,000 tonnes of sand over the past 10 years, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators said yesterday in Taipei, urging the government to block the activity, which they said could cause irreversible damage to Taiwan’s coastline.
They made their remarks during a legislative Internal Administration Committee meeting in which the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and other agencies were asked to report on the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement signed in 2009.
Chinese dredgers have been active in Kinmen’s waters without facing sustained and compelling opposition from Taiwanese authorities, DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said, citing a report by the Chinese-language CommonWealth Magazine published in July last year. [FULL STORY]
