Legislative Yuan Interior Committee to Visit Dongsha Island on July 9 to Inspect Coast Guard Deployment

According to the Central News Agency, the Legislative Yuan's Interior Committee is scheduled to visit Dongsha Island on July 9 to inspect the Coast Guard's deployment and the conservation achievements of the Ministry of the Interior's National Park Service. This marks the first legislative visit to the island since the Foreign and National Defense Committee's visit in 2018.

Liao Hsien-hsiang, a Kuomintang legislator and convener of the Interior Committee, announced that the visit will cover the 'Ocean Affairs Council operations, Coast Guard deployment on Dongsha Island, and the conservation achievements of the National Park Service.'

According to the itinerary, the delegation will depart from Kaohsiung International Airport in the morning and arrive at Dongsha Airport at 11:30 AM after a 70-minute flight. After taking photos at the 'Barrier of the South China Sea' monument, they will receive a briefing on current tasks. In the afternoon, they will visit the water plant, the Dongsha post office, the pier, and the Dongsha Temple.

The trip will conclude with a visit to the marine research center to review conservation results. The delegation is scheduled to depart Dongsha Airport at 2:00 PM, with a total stay of about 2.5 hours. The itinerary notes that participation is limited to members of the Interior Committee.

This follows a May 2018 visit led by then-convener Wang Ting-yu of the Foreign and National Defense Committee, which was conducted in response to the CCP's military expansion in the South China Sea. In 2020, then-convener Chen Yu-chen of the Interior Committee also planned a visit, but it was canceled due to concerns from the Air Force Command regarding regional complexity, military restrictions, and safety protocols.