Taiwan urges multilateral talks for S China Sea feuds

TAIPEI — Taiwan yesterday called on fellow claimants of the South China Sea to settle their long-standing dispute through multilateral negotiations after an international tribunal invalidated China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea, adding that Taipei should also be participating in the discussions on an equal footing.

“We call on all parties to settle the dispute through peaceful dialogue in the spirit of shelving differences and jointly developing resources,” Mr Tung Chen-yuan, spokesman of Taiwan’s Executive Yuan or Cabinet, told a press conference.

Mr Tung said Taiwan should be included in the envisioned multilateral talks on an equal footing, adding that it is committed to establishing a mechanism for negotiations and cooperation to jointly promote peace and stability in the region.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled on July 12 that China’s blanket claim to much of the South China Sea has no legal basis and that Taiwan-controlled Taiping Island and all other high-tide features in the Spratly chain are just “rocks”. Taiping, or Itu Aba, is the largest naturally formed feature in the Spratly Archipelago and is located about 1,600km south of Taiwan.

Besides Taiwan and China, the disputes over islands and reefs in the South China Sea also involve Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

The current Taiwan administration of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party has carefully calibrated its claim over the South China Sea, likely fearing repercussions from Beijing or Washington.

On paper, Taiwan and China make the same claims to the South China Sea. The so-called nine-dash line that Beijing uses to claim most of the sea is based on a map issued in the late 1940s by China’s then-Nationalist government, which fled to Taiwan in 1949. Since then, Beijing and the government in Taiwan — the Republic of China, as it is formally known — have based their claims on the line, which the tribunal concluded had no basis in law.

Mr Tung said yesterday that Taiping Island is Taiwanese territory and the deployment of coast guard personnel there is a steadfast way of asserting sovereignty over the island.

Following the ruling, Taipei sent a coast guard cutter to the area in addition to another dispatched there immediately before the ruling was announced last week.

The Defence Ministry has also sent a La Fayette-class frigate to Taiping.

While some have speculated that Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen is likely to visit Taiping as early as next week, Mr Tung said Ms Tsai has not ruled out such a possibility but there is no immediate plan to do so, emphasising that such a plan requires careful assessment. If she visits Taiping, she will be the third Taiwanese president to make the trip.

Although Ms Tsai has not committed to such a trip, Taiwanese legislators are scheduled to visit Taiping today to assert their sovereignty.

Nationalist Party legislator Johnny Chiang, a convenor of the legislature’s Defence and Foreign Affairs Committee, told Kyodo News that he will lead a delegation of committee members on a visit to Taiping Island.

Criticising the Ms Tsai’s administration for being too “weak” in responding to the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Mr Chiang also requested the Defence Ministry arrange a visit to Taiping Island.

Mr Chiang’s visit will be made possible by a regular food and supply delivery operation to the island conducted by the air force today.

As fishermen in southern Taiwan have also said they are organising a trip to Taiping this week, Mr Tung said the most important thing at the moment is to protect the rights of Taiwanese fishermen in waters surrounding the island. AGENCIES

(Source : todayonline.com)

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