No U.S role in humanitarian rescue drill in South China Sea: CGA

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/20
By: You Kai-hsiang and Bear Lee

Taipei, Nov. 20 (CNA) The United States will not play any role in a Taiwan drill scheduled to be held in the South South China Sea at the end of this month, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said Sunday evening.

The joint drill will focus on humanitarian rescue missions and be led by the CGA with support from the Navy in line with the policy of the Navy supporting Coast Guard Administration operations

CGA in a press release denied local media reports that the U.S. will send observers to join the drill in the waters around the Taiwan-controlled Taipei Island.

“The reports are totally untrue,” CGA said.

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has instructed that Taiping Island — the largest island in the South China Sea — should be turned into a center for humanitarian rescue and a supply base, following an international arbitration court ruling in July that Taiping is a “rock.”    [FULL  STORY]