Taiwan president to visit disputed Spratly islands: report

by uusjio | January 20, 2008 at 07:08 pm

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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 kilometres (960 miles) from Taiwan's southern Kaohsiung city, the navy would send a fleet to the Spratlys led by a Kidd-class destroyer.
Presidential Office spokesman Lee Nan-yang would not confirm the visit.
"The president visits various troop units before the Lunar New Year each year," he told ..

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