Taip[ei Times
Date: Nov 27, 2016
By: Lee Hsin-fang / Staff reporter
The Coast Guard Administration and the Ministry of National Defense plan to conduct humanitarian
The Republic of China national flag flies on a low tower on Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island) on Jan. 27. Photo: Luo Tien-pin, Taipei Times
rescue exercises on Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) tomorrow, as part of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) promise to turn the island into a humanitarian aid and resupply base, an official said yesterday.
The official, who declined to be named, said that exercises are intended to be a “soft” reassertion of national sovereignty over the island, increasing international awareness without increasing tensions in the South China Sea through “muscle flexing” focused on military power.
Coast Guard Director-General Lee Chung-wei (李仲威) is to attend, the official said.
Tsai declared the island would become a humanitarian rescue center on July 19 after the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled it was legally a “rock,” and therefore not entitled to an exclusive economic zone. [FULL STORY]
