MND denies Spratly deployment reports

An MND statement rebutted as “groundless” media reports that it is planning to provide Hai-Ou class missile boats and M41A3 tanks to Coast Guard Administration (CGA) personnel stationed on Taiping Island in a bid to boost the CGA's defensive capability in the area.

The MND also denied that it will stage war games in the South China Sea at the end of the month. There have been mounting calls for the government to redeploy marines on Taiping Island — the largest island in the Spratly archipelago — in response to the escalating tension.

The last marines pulled out of Taiping Island in 1999 and the CGA took over responsibility for manning the island, although the MND provides CGA personnel with weapons and logistical support.

The MND said the CGA personnel on the island are equal to the marines in terms of their combat skills, as they have undergone the same level of intensive training.

The Spratly Islands, believed to lie atop rich oil reserves and other natural resources, are claimed entirely or in part by Taiwan, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

The sovereignty dispute has again come to the fore as the Philippines, Vietnam and China, among others, have been making increasingly frequent sovereignty claims.

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