Fri, May 23, 2014 page3

• Taiwan influence weak: analysts

  CHINA-US DILEMMA: The negative view many have of Chinese moves in the South China Sea has Taipei hesitant about cross-strait dealings, a researcher said

  • By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff reporter
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  Taiwan is torn between allying with the US, which backs ASEAN countries, and banding with China in the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, a situation that has left it with little room to maneuver on the issue, analysts said earlier this week.

  The protests in Vietnam last week that erupted in the wake of China’s deployment of an oil rig in contested waters near the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) turned violent, damaging hundreds of foreign-run businesses in the country.

  As the fourth-largest source of foreign investment for Vietnam, properties owned by Taiwanese investors saw much more significant damage than those owned by Singaporean, Japanese or South Korean firms in terms of the number of businesses affected and their losses, Vietnamese Representative to Taiwan Bui Trong Van said.

  

  Coast guard officers stand on duty on Itu Aba (Taiping Island) on Sept. 18, 2011. Since 2000, Itu Aba, which is located in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands) chain, has been protected by the Coast Guard Administration’s Spratly Islands Command Center.

  Photo: CNA

  Taiwan is in competition with China and Vietnam over ownership of the Paracel Islands, but the way President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration handled the situation has been characterized by timidity that signaled weakness, analysts said.

  The Republic of China (ROC) was the first country to control the islands in the region and has continued with its claim on the territories, but “very little” has been done by the Ma administration over the years to strengthen its sovereignty claim, said Liu Fu-kuo (劉復國), a research fellow in the Institute of International Relations at National Chengchi University.

  Liu said the government has been positioning itself as an “onlooker” on South China Sea issues.

  The fierce reaction some Vietnamese had to China’s move near the Paracel Islands highlighted the importance of Taiwan siding with China on the South China Sea issues because cross-strait cooperation would send a message to Vietnam and to other South China Sea claimants that the territories claimed by Taiwan and China are inviolable, Liu said.

  Over the past 10 years, Vietnam and the Philippines, not China, have acted unilaterally to assert control of disputed territories in the region, contrary to the agreed-upon principles set forth in the ASEAN-China Declaration on the Code of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea signed in 1992 and adopted in 2002 in a bid to ease tensions, Liu said.

  Liu said that the Ma administration has qualms about cooperation with China on South China Sea issues because “the role Taiwan can play in the region is subject to and susceptible to US strategic interests in East Asia.”

  The widely held negative view of the rise of China among its neighbors also makes the government hesitant in cross-strait cooperation in the area, Liu added.

  The Ma administration has been “caught in the middle between the US and China” on the South China Sea issues, said Michael Gau (高聖惕), a professor at the Institute of the Law of the Sea at National Taiwan Ocean University.

  Although Taiwan also claims sovereignty over the Paracel Islands and almost all of the South China Sea, it may only get itself into trouble for whatever position it takes on any conflict between two or more parties in a territorial dispute in the region, Guo said.

  In the case of the Vietnam-China dispute, Taiwan cannot side with China against Vietnam, despite Taiwan and China sharing almost identical claims over the Paracel Islands because “behind Vietnam is the US,” Guo said.

  “How could we [Taiwan] not listen to the US?” he said.

  The government cannot blame China either, Guo said.

  “Not for it stirring the territorial dispute, for the ensuing big losses Taiwanese businesses have suffered or for its infringement upon ROC’s sovereignty over the Paracel Islands because that will draw the ire of China,” he said.

  Taiwan has no alternative but to cooperate with China to have a say with regard to its benefits in the South China Sea because none of the claimants or neighboring countries recognize the ROC and none would be willing to see Taiwan as a player, Guo said.

  “Taiwan has no room to maneuver on the issue,” he added.

  Guo said that the government should not to yield to the US’ request, as expressed by several US academics recently, to clarify its position on the “nine-dash line,” the demarcation used by the ROC and China for their claims in the South China Sea.

  The purpose of the US demand was to urge Taiwan to admit that the U-shaped line is not in accord with the UN Convention on the Law of Sea and so imply that China’s sovereignty claim over the region is illegitimate, Guo said.

  National Taiwan University law professor Chiang Huang-chih (姜皇池) said there is not much Taiwan can do about territorial disputes over islands in the South China Sea over which the country lacks effective control, including the Chinese-held Paracel Islands and the Johnson South Reef (Chigua Reef, 赤瓜礁) in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) chain.

  The Johnson South Reef is also claimed by Taiwan, Philippines and Vietnam. China’s reported land reclamation work at the reef earlier this year has already inflamed tensions in the region.

  Taiwan must review its assertion of sovereignty over the region for three reasons — it is beyond the country’s competence, the legal basis for the claim is considered to be weak and the benefits that Taiwan can reap from the region in terms of natural and fishery resources are limited, Chiang said.

  Chiang said that the government should focus more on increasing defense capabilities on the islands Taiwan controls: the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), Itu Aba (Taiping Island, 太平島) and Zhongzhou Reef (中洲礁) in the Spratly Islands.

  Other than those, islands such as the Paracels and Johnson South Reef should be treated like how Taipei regards China’s other territory, such as Beijing, he said.
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