Vietnam protests Spratly runway plan

Vietnam has asked Taiwan to immediately stop plans for building a runway on one of the disputed Spratly Islands, the state-run Vietnam News reported yesterday.

Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung warned on Thursday that construction on Taiping Island (太平島), also known as Itu Aba (Malay for "What's that?"), would violate Vietnamese sovereignty and create a "negative impact" on peace, stability and regional cooperation, the paper reported.

"Taiwan will have to take full responsibility for any consequences of its actions," he said.

A Taiwanese foreign ministry spokesman said that the island is a part of Taiwan's territory, and therefore the Ministry of National Defense's building of a landing strip on the island is in accordance with the nation's sovereignty.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) yesterday said that the building of a landing strip on the island is based on the need for coastal security as well as safeguarding the country's territory.

Lu said that the airport is not used for any military purpose, but is intended to be used for emergency rescue operations and to support fishing ships operating near the island.

The director of the Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, Hong Nhu Ly, visited MOFA yesterday afternoon and asked the Taiwanese government to halt the construction of the landing strip, calling the act a violation of Vietnam's sovereignty.

The plan to build the facility was first revealed on Dec. 15, when legislators were questioning Vice Minister of National Defense Huo Shou-yeh (霍守業).

The Spratly Islands consist of a stretch of 100 or so barren islets, reefs and atolls dotting the world's busiest shipping lanes in the South China Sea.

Vietnam, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei each claim all or part of the low-lying islands, believed to be rich in oil, gas and fish stocks.

Taiwan first established a garrison on Taiping Island, the largest island in the Spratly chain, in 1955. The island was garrisoned by a contingent of marines until 1999, when they were replaced by officers from the Coast Guard Administration.

China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations adopted a nonbinding declaration two years ago that forbids construction of new buildings on uninhabited islands in the Spratlys to prevent the territorial disputes from escalating.

China and Vietnam, which have both built permanent structures in the Spratlys, have had violent clashes over the island group in 1988 and 1992. Other countries have also engaged in low-level skirmishes over their claims.