Taipei Times
Date: Feb 07, 2017
By: Lo Tien-ping and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Taiwan’s navy should move toward using distinctly Taiwanese names to avoid confusion, after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) gave one of its frigates the same name as a Republic of China (ROC) Navy vessel.

The PLAN has called a frigate the Xining, the same name in Chinese as the ROC Navy’s Si Ning — the only difference being that Taiwan’s navy uses the Wade Giles spelling convention and traditional Chinese characters, while the Chinese vessel uses the Hanyu pinyin spelling and simplified Chinese characters.

This will not sit well with Taiwanese naval officers, particularly if the two vessels are ever to encounter each other on the high seas.

Both China and Taiwan’s navies have a tradition of naming military vessels after places in China and historical Chinese military figures.    [FULL  STORY]