President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday invited the Philippines to send representatives or lawyers to visit Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) in the disputed South China Sea to correct its misconceptions about the island.
Ma issued the invitation on Facebook, one day after a group of foreign reporters were taken on a tour of Itu Aba Island, which forms part of the Spratly archipelago (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島).
At press time last night, the Philippine government had not responded to the invitation, while Vietnam, which, along with China, Malaysia and Brunei, has claims to the Spratlys, accused Taiwan of raising tensions in the region.
Photo: AP
Ma said the media tour was arranged in hopes that the international media could be Taiwan’s witnesses and tell the world that Itu Aba is an “island,” not a “rock.”
Last year, the Philippines submitted a case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in which it challenged the legal status of Itu Aba, Ma wrote.
The Philippines has argued that Itu Aba is a “rock” that cannot provide for itself, with all supplies having to be shipped in from elsewhere, Ma said.
The Philippines also claims that the soil on Itu Aba is formed from the weathering of coral reefs and cannot be used for cultivation, and that the island should therefore be entitled to no more than 12 nautical miles (22.2km) of territorial waters, he said.
“These unfactual remarks repeatedly made by the Philippines show that it lacks an understanding of Itu Aba Island,” Ma said.
He said that Taiwanese international law experts have presented a brief, along with photographs of Itu Aba, to the court in The Hague to rebut Manila’s arguments.
The arbitrators are also welcome to visit Itu Aba to see for themselves that it is a bona fide island with fresh water that can grow crops, raise livestock and support human habitation, he said.
Therefore, Itu Aba should be entitled to a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, according to Article 121 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Ma said.
Itu Aba fully meets the requirements of an island, which is defined in the article as “a naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide” that can sustain human habitation or economic life of its own.
Besides fresh water, Itu Aba has 108 kinds of native plants and more than 20 types of planted vegetables and fruit, Ma said.
In addition to coast guard and military personnel and a civilian medical staff, there are chickens, goats, dogs, a hospital and a post office on the island, he added.
The 510m2 island lies 1,600km southwest of Kaohsiung.
Vietnam yesterday hit back at Taiwan for taking international media on a tour of Itu Aba, saying the “illegal and worthless” trip had further raised tensions in the hotly contested waters.
“Taiwan, despite concerns and objections from Vietnam and the international community, sent journalists to Taiping Island,” Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Le Hai Binh said in a statement.
“This is a serious violation of Vietnam’s sovereignty, escalates tensions and is not conducive to maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea,” he said.
Additional reporting by AFP
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS