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TAIPEI: Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian is planning a visit to the
Spratly islands in the South China Sea to underscore Taipei’s
claim to the disputed group, it was reported Sunday, in a move that
is sure to spark tensions in the region.
The trip, which would come before presidential
polls on March 22, is aimed at drumming up support for Frank Hsieh,
the ruling independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP)
candidate in the election, the Taipei-based United Daily News said.
Chen, who is to retire in May after eight years
in office, plans to take an air force C-130 transport aircraft to
the Taiping Islet, the biggest island in the Spratlys, the newspaper
said without citing its source.
It added that since the F-16s could not fully
protect Chen during his trip to the islet, which is some 1,600
kilometers (960 miles) from Taiwan’s southern Kaohsiung city, the
navy would send a fleet to the Spratlys led by a Kidd-class
destroyer.
The move would invite pro-tests from neighboring
countries—including its rival China—which also lay claim to
the islands, the daily said.
Taiwan’s defense ministry began building a
1,150-meter-long (3,795-feet) runway in the fortified Taiping islet
in mid-2006, despite protest from Vietnam, and the project is nearly
complete, it said.
The DPP suffered a humiliating defeat in
parliamentary elections on January 12, with the major opposition
Kuomintang and its smaller allies winning 86 of 113 seats. Chen
immediately resigned as DPP chairman.
Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, China, Malaysia, and
the Philippines claim all or part of the potentially oil-rich
Spratlys.
All claimants except Brunei have troops based on
the archipelago of more than 100 islets, reefs and atolls, which
have a total landmass of less than five square kilometers (two
square miles).
-- AFP
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