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Expand Itu Aba airstrip now : DPP
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Democratic Progressive Party
Legislator Pan Men-an, center, holds a press conference at the Legislative Yuan
yesterday, saying that the government should immediately resume the expansion of
an airstrip on Itu Aba (Taiping Island) in the South China Sea as the president
has promised.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The government should immediately begin
the expansion of an airstrip on Itu Aba (Taiping Island, 太平島) in the South China
Sea, even if it would drain the Executive Yuan’s so-called “secondary reserve
fund,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said yesterday.
As tensions in the South China Sea rise, Taiwan must leverage the strategic
significance of its control of Itu Aba, the largest island in the Spratly
Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) and expand the island’s airstrip from 1,150m to
1,500m long as President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has pledged, DPP Legislator Pan
Men-an (潘孟安) said.
The expansion of the runway, which was begun under former president Chen
Shui-bian (陳水扁) in 2008, would greatly help with the military deployment,
emergency medical service and logistics on the island, Pan said.
Ma said last week that an offshore terminal for naval frigates and expansion of
the airstrip are both “must-dos” to assert Taiwan’s presence in the disputed
region.
However, the Ministry of National Defense and the Coast Guard Administration
have been passing the buck, with the ministry saying that its budget for the
project was stopped by the Control Yuan in 2006 and the coast guard saying that
the project has always been listed under the ministry, Pan said.
Pan also said the government needs to consider redeploying marines on the
strategically important island after replacing them with coast guard personnel
in 2000.
DPP Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) said it was the second clash between
government agencies in a month, with the National Security Council and the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs already at odds over how to deal with the row with
the Philippines over the death of a Taiwanese fisherman.
“The agencies have failed to make the national interests their priority, instead
engaging in bureaucratic war with each other,” Chiu said.
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