Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/12
By: Tang Pei-chun and Lilian Wu
Taipei, Dec. 12 (CNA) Interior Minister Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) presided
Saturday over the opening of a renovated wharf and a newly constructed lighthouse on Taiping Island, the largest of the disputed Spratly Islands, which is controlled by Taiwan.
In a news release, the interior ministry said Chen, Coast Guard Administration Minister Wang Chung-Yi (王崇儀), and officials from other government agencies traveled to the island by plane.
The government is declaring to the international community that it plans to transform Taiping into an island of peace, ecological preservation and low carbon emissions and will help realize President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “South China Sea Peace Initiative,” the ministry said.
It said the inauguration of the wharf and lighthouse was historically significant because Saturday marked the 69th anniversary of the return of Taiping Island from Japan to the Republic of China. [FULL STORY]