Taiwan Today

A group of Taiwan university students will sail to Dongsha Island as part of efforts to increase understanding of the government’s commitment to safeguarding national sovereignty in the South China Sea region, the Coast Guard Administration said Aug. 2. “The trip will help them better understand the uniqueness and strategic significance of the Dongsha Islands,” an administration official said. According to the administration’s Southern Coastal Patrol Office, the excursion scheduled Aug. 3 to 6 will mark the first summer camp on the remote atoll. The 23 students, 11 men and 12 women, are marine affairs, international relations and political science majors, the CGA said. The visit, co-organized by the CGA, Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Education, involves lectures on the islands’ geography, natural resources and military infrastructure. A guided tour of Dongsha Atoll National Park is set to showcase the precious coral reef ecological system in Taiwan’s southernmost national park. “They will also go to sea aboard a patrol boat on its daily mission to get hands-on experience of coast guardsmen’s daily life,” a CGA official said. Song Yann-huei, a researcher at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, will accompany the group. Song is an expert on Taiwan’s maritime affairs and security, especially in the South China Sea. The group is expected to spend over 15 hours at sea on a 1,800-ton patrol vessel before reaching the atoll 450 kilometers off the southern port city of Kaohsiung, according to the CGA. During the voyage they will learn about the ship’s weaponry and participate in a lifeboat drill. The ROC also exercises sovereignty over the Nansha, Xisha and Zhongsha islands in the South China Sea. In July, 12 students and two professors from National Taiwan Ocean University made a weeklong field trip via an ROC navy frigate to Taiping Island, the largest of the Nanshas. (THN)