New York University law professor Jerome Cohen on Wednesday said that Taiwan should do more with respect to Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島), after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was criticized by the US government for deciding to visit it on Thursday.
Cohen, one of Ma’s professors at Harvard University, also suggested that Taiwan open Itu Aba up to other South China Sea claimants for research purposes.
Itu Aba is part of the Sprately Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which are claimed by Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
Cohen said he would like to “see Taiwan do more, not less, with respect to Taiping Island,” as it seeks to assert its sovereignty over the island and prove that the island is a naturally formed one.
Speaking with the media on the sidelines of a seminar in New York about the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections, Cohen said the US’ criticism of Ma’s visit was a “dumb mistake” on the part of Washington.
“If they’re unhappy, at least keep it quiet,” Cohen said.
His remarks came after the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) on Wednesday said it was “disappointed” that Ma had decided to visit the island.
Later in the day in Washington, US Department of State deputy spokesman Mark Toner said that the US was disappointed with Ma’s decision.
Douglas Paal, a former AIT director and current vice president for studies at the Washington-based think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said there might have been other concerns behind the US’ statements.
“My hope is that Taiwan will turn its occupation of Taiping Island, by far the largest of the contested Spratly features, into a model for peaceful cooperation with its neighbors that will embarrass Beijing into converting its artificial islands to similarly peaceful cooperation with its neighbors,” Cohen wrote in an online magazine forum last month.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
RSS