Taiwan, China vice ministers preside at joint maritime drill

[ahfatzia]

The second cross-strait joint maritime search and rescue exercise was held yesterday in the waters between Xiamen and Kinmen, aimed at building a sound maritime search and rescue mechanism and maintaining peace across the Strait.

Around 600 rescue officers and coast guards from Taiwan and China took part in the exercise, which involved 18 vessels and two helicopters from Taiwan, as well as 11 ships and one helicopter dispatched by China.

To avoid controversy, the vessels and helicopters of both sides sailed without flying their respective national flags, with drill flags used instead.

Meanwhile, Xu said yesterday that both the Chinese mainland and Taiwan have agreed to hold a joint maritime search and rescue exercise every other year, taking turns as host.

The exercise aims to meet the mounting need for maritime emergency rescue abilities after the mainland and Taiwan started direct flights and shipments of commodities in 2008.

Last year, the maritime rescue coordinating center of Fujian province, which is on the opposite side of Taiwan across the strait, rescued 193 ships and saved 1,973 people through 209 maneuvers.

As of the first half of this year, cross-strait travelers rose 13.6 percent year-on-year to hit 840,000, while the volume of cargo and container transportation reached 27 million tons and 840,000 TEUs separate

Full story>Taiwan, China vice ministers preside at joint maritime drill - The China Post


Perhaps a sign of things to come? Brothers band together when outside adversaries are in sight.

 

[ahfatzia]

Taiwan's security chief visits contested islands


TAIPEI: Taiwan's security chief and several top officials have visited contested islands in the South China Sea to press Taipei's claim to the disputed territory, the government said Saturday.

National security council chief Hu Wei-jen, Interior Minister Lee Hong-yuan, coast guard chief Wang Jinn-wang and other officials landed at Taiping, the biggest islet in the Spratlys, on Friday on a military jet, the council said.

The officials visited Taiwanese troops stationed on the islet to declare Taiwan's "indisputable" sovereignty over the archipelago but urged all parties to put aside their differences to develop the islands, it said in a statement.

Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam also claim all or part of the Spratlys -- an area thought to contain large oil reserves.

In July, Taiwanese authorities sent longer-range artillery and mortars to Taiping and said it planned to conduct a live-fire military drill there in September, in a move that angered Vietnam.

All claimants except Brunei have troops based on the group of more than 100 islets, reefs and atolls, which are spread across a vast area but have a total land mass of less than five square kilometres (two square miles).

The rival claims have long made the South China Sea one of Asia's potential military flashpoints, and tensions have escalated over the past year.

Taiwan's security chief visits contested islands - Channel NewsAsia

 

[SinoChallenger]

When the mainland and Taiwan cooperate on the military / security front, PLAN breaks through the first island chain via Taiwan and threatens Tokyo directly with our LACM on surface fleet and submarines.