Lawmakers visit Taiping Island to reaffirm ROC sovereignty

2016/07/21

Legislators from the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee and the Internal Administration Committee of the Legislative Yuan, the nation’s highest lawmaking body, visited Taiping Island in the Nansha (Spratly) Islands July 20 to reassert the Republic of China’s (Taiwan) sovereignty following the recent release of an award rendered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Philippines-initiated South China Sea Arbitration.

Lawmakers Chen Ting-fei, Lo Chih-cheng, Tsai Shih-ying and Wang Ting-yu of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, as well as Chiang Chi-chen, Hsu Chih-jung, Huang Chao-shun and Lu Yu-ling from the main opposition Kuomintang, flew from southern Taiwan’s Pingtung Airport to Taiping Island on a military transport aircraft.

During a roughly two-hour visit, the legislators inspected a number of facilities on the island, including its satellite and solar power equipment and weather station. “Taiping Island is absolutely not a rock, as described by the arbitral tribunal, and is in fact an island,” said the KMT’s Chiang, who led the team of lawmakers. “The ROC has administered Taiping Island for seven decades and has continuously worked to improve the facilities on the island, which is fully capable of sustaining human life.”

DPP lawmaker Wang praised the high quality of local agricultural produce after sampling coconut milk from fruit grown on Taiping Island. He also lauded the dedication of personnel stationed there, adding “there can be no question that Taiping Island is an inherent part of the ROC’s sovereign territory.”

Comprising numerous decisions, the July 12 award classified Taiping Island as a rock and not an island. This would call into question the ROC’s rightful claim to a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone around Taiping Island.

The award has produced strong reactions in Taiwan. The Office of the President, Executive Yuan and several ministries issued statements following the announcement of the award reaffirming the ROC is entitled to all rights over the South China Sea islands and their surrounding waters in accordance with international law and the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. These statements have generated widespread international media coverage.

On July 13, President Tsai Ing-wen ordered ROC navy Kangding-class frigate Dihua to depart 24 hours early on a regular patrol of the South China Sea, and three days later the Coast Guard Administration dispatched a 1,000-ton cutter to the region on a mission of undetermined duration.

The Legislative Yuan issued a statement July 15 jointly drafted by the caucuses of the DPP, KMT, New Power Party and People First Party rejecting the PCA award and announcing that Taiwan remains committed to the ongoing development and administration of Taiping Island across the areas of academic research, environmental protection, infrastructure development, natural resources exploration, security, tourism, and transportation and communications.

Taiping Island, with an area of 0.51 square kilometers, is the largest naturally formed island in the Nansha (Spratly) Islands. It can sustain human habitation and an economic life of its own, and meets the criteria of an island as defined in Article 121 of UNCLOS. As such, the ROC enjoys full rights associated with territorial waters, a contiguous zone, an exclusive economic zone and a continental shelf in accordance with UNCLOS.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=246376&ctNode=2194&mp=9)