The Legislative Yuan yesterday issued a joint statement on the South China Sea ruling, rejecting “any arbitrary decision made by international arbitration” concerning the Republic of China’s (ROC) rights over “the South China Sea islands and their relevant waters.”
Amid inter-party struggles in the legislature over the bill dealing with ill-gotten party assets, the four party caucuses reached consensus over the nation’s stance toward the ruling on Tuesday by the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
A statement announced by Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) at 5pm yesterday said that the arbitration ruling has “seriously damaged the rights of the nation to its territory and the regional peace of the South China Sea.”
Photo: CNA
“The legislature, the ROC’s highest representative institution and authorized by the nation’s citizens, has made a resolution to make an international statement on the basis of facts and jurisprudence,” it said.
“The ROC enjoys the rights conferred by international law over its South China Sea islands and its relevant waters as they are, in terms of history, geography and international law, part of the ROC’s territory and waters. Any country’s claims or occupation or any international arbitration’s arbitrary decision will not be recognized by the ROC,” the statement said.
“The ROC has been substantively occupying and effectively governing Taiping Island [太平島, Itu Aba Island] of the South China Sea islands for more than half a century without interruption. Former presidents Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) both visited the island, which has infrastructure for daily living and administration and military construction, in 2008 and this year respectively and confirmed the nation’s occupation and sovereignty, which is not to be challenged by any country or arbitration,” it said.
The third point of the statement said that the ROC government has undertaken and will continue to undertake “both outward-facing and inward-facing sovereignty protecting actions regarding the South China Sea islands including Taiping.”
The “outward-facing” part will be continuing its campaign to show the international community and related organizations evidence affirming the nation’s rights and claims over the islands and their relevant waters; the “inward-facing” action will be continuing the building on Itu Aba, including bolstering the forces and military equipment stationed there, promoting academic research and tourism, and reinforcing the basic infrastructures for transportation, communications and environmental protection.
“Taiping Island is a natural island, not a rock. The arbitration tribunal’s judgement is obviously at odds with facts. And that the award refers to the nation as ‘Taiwan Authority of China’ has belittled the nation’s status as a sovereign nation and is unacceptable to the ROC government and its people,” the statement said.
The resolution to make the statement, the cross-caucus negotiation for which was initiated by the People First Party (PFP) caucus, was endorsed by all caucuses, the Democratic Progressive Party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the New Power Party and the PFP.
There was no mention of the “U-shaped line” or the “11-dash line” claims in the statement.
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
RSS