Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), which charts ties with China, both clarified on Monday the time at which they notified China about an accidental missile firing on July 1.
The two organizations were responding to the head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Zhang Zhijun. Zhang had complained that the missile had been aimed at China, and yet Taiwan did not notify China of the incident first.
Zhang’s complaint came despite the fact that his office had earlier cut communication with its Taiwanese counterpart to show Beijing’s dislike of the new government in Taiwan under President Tsai Ing-wen.
Taiwan officials have also said that the missile, which killed one Taiwanese fishing boat captain and injured three crew members, was not aimed at China, and did not cross the center line of the Taiwan Strait. The navy has said that the firing was caused by human error.
Meanwhile, both the foreign ministry and the MAC responded at the legislature on Monday to questions about the timing of when they notified China of the incident.
Both the foreign ministry and MAC had originally said that they had informed the US at noon, and China in the afternoon. But on Monday, Vice Foreign Minister Leo Lee told lawmakers that at noon on the day of the incident, he was at a luncheon with officials from the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which is the top US body charting ties with Taiwan. Lee said that it was not until afternoon by the time the foreign ministry informed the US about the accidental missile shooting.
“It was after lunch, and we asked the political section chief to stay behind, and the head of the foreign ministry’s Department of North American Affairs told him. At the time it’s more accurate to say that it was ‘after noon’, closer to 2pm, because it was more convenient to talk about it after lunch," said Lee.
The MAC had originally said it had informed its Chinese counterpart of the incident on the afternoon of July 1. But on Monday, MAC Minister Katharine Chang said that MAC had sent a fax to its counterpart at just after noon.