Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) is reportedly to soon propose a policy of “paying respect to the sea.” It is good to know that the highest levels of government attach such importance to marine issues.
Taiwan’s has about 1,700km of coastline and about 13,000km2 of coastal land.
Many years of economic development and relaxation of marine regulations have allowed maritime resources to be used in a diverse number of ways, such as for seawalls, national defense, conservation, energy resources, fisheries, transport and recreation.
Some of these uses are mutually conflicting and some did not consider the characteristics of coastal land and resources. This has led to undesirable results, such as competitive, excessive or improper use of those resources.
Problems such as the excessive proportion of artificial coastline, coastal erosion, subsidence, damage to geological landscapes and marine pollution all result from the improper use of marine resources.
The Coastal Zone Management Act (海岸管理法), which was drawn up by the Ministry of the Interior in 2015, has established a management regime for the protection, defense and usage of coastal zones. It serves to effectively resolve conflicts between different users, mitigate effects on the coastal environment and reduce the risk of coastal disasters.
The national spatial plan goes a step further by including waters extending 12 nautical miles (22.2km) from the average high-tide line within the marine resources zone and establishing a regime for the subsequent use of this zone.
The Construction and Planning Agency deserves praise for doing its duty in this respect.
However, marine management is not limited to territorial space. It also includes the use and protection of marine resources, the development of marine industries, maritime safety, safety of marine recreation, prevention of marine pollution, preservation of marine culture and marine education, and so on.
There is an urgent need for the government to systematically establish management regimes governing all these diverse aspects.
The Ocean Affairs Council is duty bound to play the main part in this process. Although the council was established a year-and-a-half ago, hopefully it will go on to exert more energetic governance over the sea and integrate the establishment of Taiwan’s marine management regime.
In 2008, the EU adopted its Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which regards the sea as an important economic asset and pursues the goal of ensuring that Europe’s seas are clean, healthy and productive.
Considering that Taiwan calls itself a maritime nation, it should have the same boldness of vision. The real way to respect the sea is to treat it as an important national asset and establish a management regime to sustainably utilize and protect it.
Chen Chung-ling is a professor in National Cheng Kung University’s Institute of Ocean Technology and Marine Affairs.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS