CNA file photo
Taipei, June 29 (CNA) A report that Taiwan was considering the idea of leasing Taiping Island to the United States was "fake news" that could mislead the public, a Taipei-based think tank said Friday.
Spreading such groundless information could affect the public's understanding of the matter, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR) said in a statement, and it urged the media to verify the facts before making such a report.
The INDSR, affiliated to the Ministry of National Defense, was launched in May to study China's military. Former Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) is serving as its first chairman.
According to the statement, Feng while serving as defense minister repeatedly denied the rumor at legislative hearings while answering questions from lawmakers.
The fake news that Taiwan was thinking about leasing the island in the disputed South China Sea has been propagated several times in recent years, including in July 2016, July 2017 and June this year, the institute said.
It urged the local media to verify the facts of any news story to avoid fanning the public's misunderstanding of and misgivings over a specific issue.
The idea that Taiwan was considering to lease the island to the U.S. was most recently reported by China-based news site href="http://www.xilu.com">www.xilu.com.
Wu Qian (吳謙), a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said at a news briefing in Beijing on Thursday that "such an idea is very dangerous because the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are all firmly opposed to any such moves that are harmful to the Chinese people."
In response to Wu's comment, Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) reiterated that Taiwan has no plans to lease the island in the disputed South China Sea to the U.S.
"The government has no plans to lease Taiping Island to any other country, including the U.S. Neither the U.S. nor any other country have made such a request," Lee said.
It was the second time in a month that Lee has clarified the matter, which has attracted attention from local and foreign media.
Lee described it as a fabricated report designed to create instability in the region or conflict between the two sides of the strait, and urged the parties concerned to stop attacking Taiwan for the groundless rumor.
Taiping Island, located some 1,600 kilometers from Kaohsiung, is part of the Spratly Islands. With an area of only 0.51 square kilometers, it has 200 ROC troops stationed there but no civilian residents.
(By Elaine Hou and Flor Wang)
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