KMT, TPP lawmakers to visit Taiping Island on May 18

Taipei, May 9 (CNA) A group of lawmakers from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) will visit Taiping Island on May 18 to observe Coast Guard drills and inspect a newly constructed pier.

A total of 20 lawmakers from the two parties will join the trip, which will be led by Foreign and National Defense Committee convener and KMT lawmaker Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), according to the itinerary provided by the Legislative Yuan.

Taiping Island is a Taiwan-controlled island situated 1,600 kilometers southwest of Kaohsiung. Around 200 Coast Guard personnel overseen by the Coast Guard Administration under the Ocean Affairs Council are stationed there.

The island, located in the South China Sea, is also claimed by Vietnam, China and the Philippines.

The itinerary shows the inspection team will depart for Pingtung Air Force Base in the afternoon of May 17 after a Legislative Yuan meeting. They will then take a flight the next day at 7 a.m. and arrive on Taiping Island around 10:30 a.m.

Upon arrival at Taiping Island, the inspection team will first take a group photo at a monument marking the island as a "key site of the ROC's territory in the South China Sea," before receiving an introduction to the island, observing Coast Guard drills, visiting the newly constructed Taiping Island pier, and then having lunch on the island.

They will head back to Taiwan on a 1 p.m. flight and are expected to arrive at Pingtung Airport around 4:30 p.m., according to the itinerary.

The lawmakers had originally planned to depart on May 16. However, the trip was postponed because the Legislative Yuan will vote on important bills on May 17.

Ruling Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers have not registered for the inspection tour.