The 17th South China Sea Conference was held in Vietnam on Monday and Tuesday, with representatives from National Cheng Kung University and National Taiwan University attending. The Taiwanese delegates drew on Taiwanese research to contribute to discussions on topics surrounding security and cooperation in the South China Sea and the wider Indo-Pacific region.
From Wednesday to Friday, the Manila Dialogue on the South China Sea was held in the Philippines, with officials from the Ocean Affairs Council and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines addressing the event, while the Japanese and German ambassadors to the Philippines emphasized the importance of maintaining stability in the Taiwan Strait.
German Ambassador to the Philippines Andreas Pfaffernoschke said that in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and in support of freedom of navigation, Germany would follow the precedent set in September last year by once again sending a naval vessel through the Taiwan Strait.
English adventurer Walter Raleigh once said: “Whosoever commands the sea commands the trade of the world and consequently the world itself.” The South China Sea is rich in fossil fuel reserves, along with abundant mineral resources and marine fisheries. Nearly 40 percent of global trade passes through this vital sea space, which covers about 3.56 million square kilometers with an average depth of about 1km.
Its land features — islands, reefs, sandbanks, shoals and submerged banks — make up less than one 10,000th of its total area. The exceptional value of the 2,300 hectares of naturally formed territories in the region that Taiwan controls — Itu Aba (Taiping Island, 太平島) and the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙島) — is abundantly clear. Occupying a crucial chokepoint along the first island chain in East Asia, the area is a key defensive position.
On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that satellite imagery shows that Vietnam has built new artificial islands on all of the 21 reefs and low-tide features it controls in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島). The outposts allow Vietnam to project influence in the region and respond to China’s efforts to expand and reinforce multiple reefs and atolls in the region.
Over the past four years, Vietnam has constructed more artificial islands than China, although their total area is only about half of the 1,881 hectares that China possesses — roughly equivalent to 26 of Taipei’s Daan Park.
Countries have been aggressively expanding their territorial presence across the South China Sea, creating artificial islands by dredging and sand-filling. China controls Mischief Reef (Meiji Reef, 美濟礁), Subi Reef (Jhubi Reef, 渚碧礁) and Fiery Cross Reef (Yongshu Reef, 永暑礁) — its three largest reefs — while Vietnam holds Barque Canada Reef (柏礁), called Bai Thuyen Chai in Vietnam, Namyit Island (Hongsiou Island, 鴻庥島) and Pearson Reef (Bisheng Island, 畢生礁). The Taiwan-controlled Taiping Island, the largest natural island in the South China Sea covering about 46 hectares, has fallen to eighth in size among the artificial features that have been developed in the region.
While other countries continue to recklessly alter the “status quo” in the South China Sea, Taiwan is clinging to the old ways and exercising excessive caution. China is reportedly aiming to build two 3km airstrips on Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) — 941km south of Sanya on China’s Hainan Island and only 220km from the Philippine town of Iba in Zambales Province.
China’s goal is to expand its aerial capabilities, adding to the four 3km runways it has already constructed elsewhere in the region. Barque Canada Reef lies 621km from Vietnam’s Phan Thiet, but only 392km from the Philippines’ Palawan Island, 389km from Sabah, Malaysia, and 396km from Brunei.
Vietnam has already constructed a 3km runway on the reef, as well as port facilities with a channel as wide as the Panama Canal.
The intense competition and friction among the powers surrounding the South China Sea is evident, which is something that Taiwan — as a maritime nation whose economy relies heavily on foreign trade — must not overlook.
Taiwan once possessed the largest natural landmass in the South China Sea. Moreover, the nation’s central location makes it a critical gateway to the north.
However, due to the complex international political circumstances of the past few decades, Taiwan has kept a low profile and stood idly while its neighbors carrying out large-scale land reclamation and territorial expansion in the South China Sea.
With the changing international situation and the diligent leadership of the Ocean Affairs Council, the time has come for Taiwan to increase its patrols in the region, maintain a constant coast guard presence, and bolster critical infrastructure on Taiping Island and the features near it. Black Hawk helicopters should be permanently stationed on Taiping to facilitate emergency medical care, and search and rescue operations in nearby waters.
The helicopters could reach Palawan, about 370km away, where Taiwan could reach an agreement with the Philippines to establish an overseas medical facility.
Such measures would expand Taiwan’s voice in the region, safeguard the nation’s maritime sovereignty and fishing rights, enhance regional influence and deepen ties with friendly nations in the region.
Lai Ming-huang is an engineer with a doctorate from National Cheng Kung University and a former Directorate-General of Highways regional engineering department head.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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