China’s construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea has unsettled neighboring countries and increased tensions between the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the US Navy. When a US Navy P-8A surveillance aircraft passed over an artificial island on Wednesday last week, it received eight warnings from the PLA.
In a military strategy document issued earlier this week, Beijing warned that “[some] external countries are also busy meddling in South China Sea affairs; a tiny few maintain constant close-in air and sea surveillance and reconnaissance against China. It is thus a long-standing task for China to safeguard its maritime rights and interests.”
The US, Australia and Japan are scheduled to hold military drills in areas around Australia in early July in a sign of growing security links, as tensions fester over China’s island building. A storm is brewing in the region.
The South China Sea is rich in fishery resources, oil and minerals, and it occupies a strategic position in international sea transport. There is a lot of overlap between the territorial waters claimed by different countries — Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei — leading to constant disputes, although these have all been minor and, overall, the region has been calm. However, because China is now expanding its claims, saber rattling has been increasing. If the involved countries are unable to show self-restraint, there is a risk that the situation could spin out of control and escalate into a military conflict. This is not a situation that the international community wants to see.
Faced with this potential conflict, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has proposed a “South China Sea peace initiative,” calling on concerned parties to avoid any unilateral action that could increase tension. He said that the Republic of China (ROC) hopes to play a role as a responsible stakeholder and regional peacemaker.
The president added that while sovereignty is inalienable, resources can be shared, as he called on the countries involved to establish a regional cooperation mechanism to develop resources through integrated planning. Finally, Ma said that free navigation and flight in the South China Sea must be respected.
Taiwan might not be very influential in the South China Sea, but in the international arena, reason speaks louder than fists. In the region, Taiwan controls the largest of the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), and whether it is the nine-dash line or the ROC’s 1947 eleven-dash line, Taiwan’s sovereignty claims in the region cannot be denied. This makes Taiwan an important part of any regional dispute or cooperative agreement, as it has independent and sovereign interests that must not be ignored.
Regional disputes should be solved peacefully, and although talks and negotiations would take a long time, this is the approach that is needed to find a lasting peaceful solution. Resorting to military action would take a heavy toll, and it would take a long time before normality is restored.
The current tension is similar to the situation between Taiwan, Japan and China in the East China Sea in the past few years. Once peace and mutual interests were considered, Taiwan and Japan were able to reach a fisheries cooperation agreement, Japan and China were able to avoid military conflict, and, as talks continue, the situation in the East China Sea has calmed down.
Perhaps this is not due to Ma’s East China Sea peace initiative, but the fact is that the situation is developing in a peaceful spirit. We can only hope that the tension in the South China Sea will be dissolved in line with the peace initiative.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations