Taiwan has rejected renewed sovereignty claims over the South China Sea by the Philippines and China by reaffirming its sovereignty and rights under international law over the disputed area.
“The Republic of China [ROC] enjoys all rights to island groups and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea in accordance with international law and maritime laws,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said in a statement yesterday.
Other countries’ attempts to claim sovereignty over the South China Sea do not change the fact that the ROC holds sovereignty over the region, the ministry said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The MOFA statement came after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr signed two laws on Friday last week to define his country’s maritime entitlements and set designated sea lanes and air routes to reinforce sovereignty over parts of the South China Sea.
China quickly responded on Sunday by publishing baselines for a contested shoal in the South China Sea it seized from the Philippines and reiterating the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) claim over nearly all of the South China Sea.
Beijing claims areas also claimed by Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
“China will continue to take all necessary measures in accordance with the law to resolutely defend China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
China and the Philippines claim Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) and other outcroppings in the South China Sea.
China seized the shoal, which lies west of the main Philippine island of Luzon, in 2012 and has since restricted Filipino fishers’ access.
A 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration found that most Chinese claims in the South China Sea were invalid, but Beijing has refused to abide by it.
Ships from China and the Philippines have collided several times as part of escalating confrontations between the two governments in the past few months, including the China Coast Guard blasting Philippine vessels with water cannons.
MOFA’s statement described the recent actions by China and the Philippines as “escalating regional tensions and potentially jeopardizing regional peace and stability.”
It reiterated Taiwan’s desire to resolve territorial disputes through multilateral dialogue and dispute settlement mechanisms, and said that the nation should be included in such mechanisms on an equal footing.
Taiwan controls two islands in the South China Sea.
One of them is Itu Aba (Taiping Island, 太平島), which is the largest among the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) and lies 1,600km southwest of Kaohsiung. It is administered as part of Kaohsiung’s Cijin District (旗津).
The other is Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島), which lies 450km southwest of Kaohsiung.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
NO RIGHT: After 38 years of martial law under the former KMT government, the KMT is the least qualified to accuse others of harboring such intentions, DPP officials said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of creating a stir on social media by implying that the government supports martial law, adding that the KMT is the least qualified to criticize others after decades of martial law in Taiwan under the former KMT regime. After South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol late on Tuesday night declared martial law (which was rescinded six hours later), the DPP caucus issued a statement on Thread saying that Taiwan’s legislature was facing a situation similar to that in South Korea, which had prompted Yoon to declare martial law. “The South
‘FACT-BASED’: There is no ban, and 2 million Taiwanese have traveled to China this year, which is more than the 285,000 Chinese who visited Taiwan, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday accused China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of shifting the blame for Beijing’s tourism ban on Taiwan, continuing a war of words that started in the past week. The council’s remark came hours after its Chinese counterpart on Friday accused the government of creating barriers to the resumption of reciprocal group tours across the Taiwan Strait. The TAO accused the MAC of releasing untruthful information and dragging its feet on the tourism sector’s call to establishing ferries linking Pingtung County to China’s Pingtan Island. The MAC failed to respond to overtures to restore direct flights and raised the
RSS