President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Thursday reiterated that Taiwan holds sovereignty over Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) and said that any international court ruling that downgrades the legal status of Itu Aba from an “island” to a “rock” would be illegal and would hurt Taiwanese sovereignty.
“Whether from the perspective of history, geography or international law, it is indisputable that the Spratly Islands [Nansha Islands, 南沙群島], Paracel Islands [Xisha Islands, 西沙群島], the Macclesfield Bank [Zhongsha Islands, 中沙群島] and Pratas Islands [Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島] in the South China Sea, and their surrounding waters, are inherent parts of the territory of the ROC [Republic of China],” Ma said at a seminar on South China Sea disputes and international law.
That is why when Philippine lawyers argued in an international arbitration court that Itu Aba Island was not an island, but a rock, the government felt compelled to defend the legal status of Taiwan’s territory, Ma said.
The Philippines is trying to prove that Itu Aba Island is not an island and that, therefore, smaller islets claimed by China in the region are also rocks and are not entitled to an economic exclusive zone under international law.
In its lawsuit in The Hague, the Philippines said that “some rocks” do not qualify for a claim to territorial waters in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Ma said that although Taiwan is an important claimant in the case, it has not been invited to appear before the court.
If the court accepts the argument made by Philippine lawyers, it would seriously hurt Taiwan’s sovereign rights and constitute a violation of the UNCLOS, Ma said.
Itu Aba, the largest island in the disputed Spratly archipelago, meets the description of an island as defined in Article 121 of the UNCLOS, Ma said.
Ma said he has invited Philippine officials, representatives and lawyers to visit Taiping to witness the high-quality fresh water source and the ecology.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday invited international law academics who participated in the seminar to tour Taiping.
Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei claim all or part of the islands and reefs in the South China Sea, which are thought to be rich in oil and natural gas reserves.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
RSS