New York University law professor Jerome Cohen on Wednesday said that Taiwan should do more with respect to Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島), after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was criticized by the US government for deciding to visit it on Thursday.
Cohen, one of Ma’s professors at Harvard University, also suggested that Taiwan open Itu Aba up to other South China Sea claimants for research purposes.
Itu Aba is part of the Sprately Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which are claimed by Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
Cohen said he would like to “see Taiwan do more, not less, with respect to Taiping Island,” as it seeks to assert its sovereignty over the island and prove that the island is a naturally formed one.
Speaking with the media on the sidelines of a seminar in New York about the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections, Cohen said the US’ criticism of Ma’s visit was a “dumb mistake” on the part of Washington.
“If they’re unhappy, at least keep it quiet,” Cohen said.
His remarks came after the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) on Wednesday said it was “disappointed” that Ma had decided to visit the island.
Later in the day in Washington, US Department of State deputy spokesman Mark Toner said that the US was disappointed with Ma’s decision.
Douglas Paal, a former AIT director and current vice president for studies at the Washington-based think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said there might have been other concerns behind the US’ statements.
“My hope is that Taiwan will turn its occupation of Taiping Island, by far the largest of the contested Spratly features, into a model for peaceful cooperation with its neighbors that will embarrass Beijing into converting its artificial islands to similarly peaceful cooperation with its neighbors,” Cohen wrote in an online magazine forum last month.
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