In terms of issues related to the South China Sea, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) claim national sovereignty over the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), the Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha Islands, 中沙群島) and the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) and say disputes should be settled according to international laws of the sea.
In 2011, the DPP stated in its 10-year policy platform that disputes over the South China Sea should be solved by the countries concerned under a multilateral platform, according to international law and in line with the spirit of setting aside dispute and pursuing joint development.
It also stated that the parties should cooperate on issues like the development of marine resources, and the prevention of marine pollution and marine security, while also establishing a multilateral consultation mechanism to solve any problems that may arise as a result of cooperation.
For a long time now, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ view of the issue has been that countries near disputed islands in the South China Sea should act according to the spirit and principles of the UN Charter and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and avoid taking any unilateral action that could influence the stability and peace in the area.
After the Philippines was forced by China off the Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in the Macclesfield Bank, Manila last year sought international arbitration and demanded that a decision be made on whether China’s South China Sea “nine-dash line” is in line with the Convention on the Law of the Sea. Beijing has made it clear that it does not accept the legality of this international arbitration, that it will not take part in it and that it will not enforce its results.
However, the US, the EU, Japan and Vietnam support solving the dispute according to the convention or via international arbitration.
Taiwan’s position on this issue is awkward because the “U-shaped line” proposed by Taiwan is similar to China’s “nine-dash line,” so, not wanting to offend the US and China, the government and the DPP have adopted an ambiguous stance on the Philippines’ use of international arbitration.
Taiwan’s biggest advantage is that it controls the Pratas Islands and the largest island in the Spratly chain, Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島). As outlined in Article 121 of the Convention on the Law of the Sea, these two islands can sustain human habitation and economic activity, and are outside territorial waters. As such, these islands should have an exclusive economic zone and a continental shelf.
Neither the US nor the Philippines can refute that Taiwan’s claim over these islands is in line with international laws of the sea.
The Ma administration and the former DPP administration were unwilling to renounce the “U-shaped line” or retreat to focus mainly on the Pratas Islands and Itu Aba. As well as claiming sovereignty over those islands, they also claimed sovereign rights such as exclusive economic zones.
Taiwan no longer claims the South China Sea to be “historic waters,” and the link between Taiwan and the Pratas and the Spratly islands must be strengthened. Instead of organizing academic camp programs on Itu Aba, which allows graduate students to visit for shorts periods of time, the Ma administration would be better off subsidizing fishermen from southern Taiwan to stay there for long periods or take turns staying there after a proposed port there is completed. This would prove that the government has the ability to continue Taiwan’s economic activities there.
Lin Cheng-yi is a research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies.
Translated by Drew Cameron
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