Live Artillery Drills to Be Held on Taiping Island before Nov. Elections: CGA Head to Assume Responsibility If Needed

Live Artillery Drills to Be Held on Taiping Island before Nov. Elections: CGA Head to Assume Responsibility If Needed

Source: China Times

November 16, 2018

It has been widely reported that the US plans to hold large-scale military exercises in the South China Sea. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA, 海巡署) under the Ocean Affairs Council (OAC, 海洋委員會) will hold three-day live artillery drills on Taiping island starting November 21^st, on the eve of the nine-in-one local elections. Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), the KMT’s candidate in the Taipei mayoral race, repeatedly called on the CGA to cancel the drills to avoid sparking accidents so as not to elicit a great impact on the local elections.

The Interior Committee of the Legislative Yuan (立院內政委員會) reviewed the annual budgets of both the CGA and OAC yesterday. KMT legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) asked OAC officials whether or not the live artillery exercises would be held. Hwung Hwung-hweng (黃煌煇), minister of the OAC, replied to her by saying that only live firing would be carried next week, but no artillery exercises. Lee Chung-wei (李仲威), director-general of the CGA, indicated that it would be a routine firing practice once a quarter, so the schedule would remain the same.

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