CPC board chief calls for joint exploration, defense of Taiping

Former KMT legislator Chiu Yi speaks at Jiaotong U.

Firebrand former legislator Chiu Yi said China and Taiwan should join forces to defend Taiping Island against other claimants 

Taiwan and China should jointly exploit the sea environment around Taiping Island (太平島) and cooperate in defending the area against aggression, a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator and CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC) board director said in Shanghai last week, adding fuel to an already tense situation in the South China Sea.

Chiu Yi (邱毅), the firebrand former legislator who was appointed to the board of the state-owned oil company earlier this month, made the remarks on the sidelines of the “cross-strait economic interaction and new opportunities” conference at Jiaotong University in Shanghai last week. “The seabed around Taiping Island has abundant reserves of oil and natural gas,” Chiu said. “There would be great merit in a cross-strait joint development project,” he said, adding that so far the proposal has not been adopted by the government. 

My article, published today in the Taipei Times, continues here.