Sat, Aug 20, 2016 page3

• Ruling affected Taiwan by denying island status to Itu Aba: think tank

  • Staff Writer, with CNA
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  The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, in its ruling in a case brought by the Philippines has attempted to reel in China, but has instead affected Taiwan by defining the Taiwan-controlled Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) as a “rock” and not an “island,” an article published by a Canadian think tank said.

  The July 12 ruling on China’s actions and claims in the South China Sea, including building artificial islands and threatening to use force to control key fishing areas, is important to the dispute’s overall narrative, David Sutton said in the article published on the NATO Association of Canada’s Web site on Friday last week.

  “Based on standing international law, it is clear that China’s actions are an affront to those agreements and understandings,” said Sutton, a research analyst at the Toronto-based think tank.

  The court said China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to resources within the “nine-dash line,” adding that all high-tide features in the Spratly Islands, including Itu Aba, are legally “rocks” rather than “islands.”

  Declarations by the international community will not change the situation, as the court has no jurisdiction over China, Sutton said.

  However, the ruling has affected Taiwan, which lacks legal standing as an independent state and is recognized as a part of China in court documents, he added.

  Taiwan controls Itu Aba, the largest of the Spratly Islands. The 0.5km2 island lies about 1,600km southwest of Kaohsiung.

  Itu Aba has natural vegetation, a small airfield, a dock and other facilities, including housing for coast guard personnel and medical equipment, Sutton said.

  Taipei also says that the island has several fresh-water wells and supports a small farm.

  Taiwan argues that Itu Aba thus meets the definition of an island according to Article 121 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

  The convention defines an island as a naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide, adding that only an island can generate a 200-nautical mile (370.4km) exclusive economic zone.

  “Given that other countries are claiming exclusive economic zones [EEZ] for similarly small islands, like the United States’ EEZ claims for Midway and Bakers islands, Taiwan’s claim to Taiping should not be up for dispute,” Sutton said.

  “The Hague’s ruling that Taiping does not qualify as an island and is thus not suitable for an exclusive economic zone, further erodes Taiwan’s territorial claims and standing,” he added.

  Meanwhile, it is ironic that Taiwan, “a de facto state that maintains a cooperative approach to competing territorial claims, has suffered as a result of Beijing’s aggressive policies of muscling competing nations out of contested waters,” Sutton said.

  Citing Taiwan’s efforts to use peaceful resolutions to address disputes, he said that Taiwan and the Philippines signed an agreement in November last year to cooperate on law enforcement and fishery issues.

  The agreement followed increased tensions due to the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine coast guard over territorial claims between Taiwan and the Philippines in May 2013.

  Another example was the signing of a fishery agreement between Taiwan and Japan in April 2013 in an effort to address fishing disputes in overlapping territorial waters in the East China Sea, Sutton said.

  The Hague ruling, which has been ignored by China, risks further damage by pushing Taiwan to take more assertive action to secure its claims, Sutton said.

  “Angry Taiwanese citizens have been calling for the government to deploy the navy to fortify the region that has been patrolled exclusively by the coast guard,” he said. “At the same time, a group of Taiwanese fishermen landed on Taiping to protest the court’s ruling.”

  Although an angry populace in Taiwan is a minor issue compared with China’s heated response and subsequent further militarization of the region, “pressure by citizens to add to the mix of forces already jockeying for claims risks further exasperating regional tensions,” Sutton said.

  The case was established to protect the legal rights of the Philippines under agreements of international legal frameworks and understandings, he said.

  However, “it is regrettable that another, the unrecognized but abiding member, has been harmed in the same stroke,” he added.

  Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei claim part or all of the islands in the resource-rich South China Sea and their surrounding waters.
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