The Chinese-language Liberty Times reported yesterday that in its Nov. 18 proclamation, the government only mentioned the islands of Taiwan, Penghu, and the disputed Diaoyutai, Pratas and Macclesfield Bank, giving the impression it was forsaking sovereignty over the two islands close to the Chinese coast. The map published in the Executive Yuan Gazette Online last week described the 12-nautical-mile territorial waters and the 24-nautical-mile contiguous zone around Taiwan, but left Kinmen and Matsu completely unmentioned.

The islands were Taiwan's first line of defense against the Chinese Communists after the Kuomintang's flight from China in 1949. They lie within sight of the Chinese Province of Fujian and Beijing includes them within its territorial waters.

Premier Wu Den-yih told reporters yesterday that the decision was made ten years ago to leave Kinmen and Matsu blanco, putting disputes aside to let both sides win. He denied the lacuna was the result of a secret agreement with China.

Chiang said the new official proclamation was needed to bring the situation into line with the maps adapted by the Ministry of National Defense from 2005.

Taiwan had never relinquished its sovereignty over Kinmen and Matsu, and would never do so, Chiang said. The new nautical areas were a purely technical adaptation that had anything to do with claims of sovereignty.

He promised lawmakers the two islands would be included in a second phase out of three, to be expected within one year.

Vice Defense Minister Yang Nien-chu said the military was not cutting its troop strength on Kinmen and Matsu, and certainly not handing the islands to China. The military's protection of the two islands had never been interrupted and never been unclear, Yang told lawmakers, though he admitted his ministry had not been involved in the latest map changes.