Civic groups on Thursday sounded the alarm about a bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) stating that the Chinese Civil War has never ended and would redefine the Taiwan Strait as an “internal sea.”
Taiwan Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said the proposal would alter the political situation between Taiwan and China, and blur territorial boundaries.
“It is clear that the KMT is adhering to the Beijing regime’s assertion that ‘Taiwan is an internal Chinese matter’ by trying to establish a legal framework for it,” Lai said.
Photo courtesy of the Ocean Affairs Council
Eighteen KMT and Taiwan People’s Party lawmakers have signed the bill initiated by KMT Legislator Chen Yeong-kang (陳永康) to amend Article 29 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), Lai said.
The change would transfer jurisdiction of the seas around Kinmen and Lienchiang counties from the Ministry of National Defense to the Ocean Affairs Council.
It would also permit local officials in the counties to negotiate directly with the Chinese government on judicial, commercial and administrative issues, potentially even political, Lai said.
Democratic Progressive Party caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said the amendment would deter international assistance to Taiwan by making the waters internal territory instead of international waters, lending credence to Beijing’s claims that cross-strait issues are a domestic matter.
Chen defended the proposal before a legislative meeting yesterday, saying it would transfer the responsibility of patrolling restricted waters near Kinmen and Lienchiang from the defense ministry to the Coast Guard Administration, an agency of the Ocean Affairs Council.
Restricted waters, territorial waters and sovereignty are three separate issues that must not be mixed up in the discussion of the bill, he said.
Since the lifting of martial law, the outlying islands mainly have to deal with law enforcement issues, which are the responsibility of the coast guard, rather than defense of the nation’s borders, which falls under the defense ministry’s purview, he said.
He added that there are only “internal waters” and “international waters” in international law, and there is no such thing as “internal seas.”
Additional reporting by Hsieh Chun-lin and CNA
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