Taiwanese legislators to visit South China Sea island

Taiwanese legislators are planning to visit a South China Sea island Taiwan administers to assert sovereignty on Wednesday, weather permitting, after an international tribunal ruled the island is legally only a "rock."


Nationalist Party legislator Johnny Chiang, a convenor of the legislature's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, told Kyodo News that he will lead a delegation of committee members on a visit to Taiping Island.

Criticizing the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen for being too "weak" in responding to the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Chiang requested the defense ministry arrange a visit to Taiping Island.

• Taiping, or Itu Aba, is the largest naturally formed feature in the Spratly Archipelago and is located some 1,600 kilometers south of Taiwan.

Chiang said that while he had invited Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan to visit the island, Feng had declined, saying the timing was sensitive.

The move comes after the court ruled on Tuesday last week that China's blanket claim to much of the South China Sea has no legal basis, and defined Taiping Island and all other high-tide features in the Spratly chain as "rocks," stating that by extension none can generate an exclusive economic zone or continental shelf.

Chiang's visit will be made possible by a regular food and supply delivery operation to the island conducted by the air force on Wednesday.

Following the ruling, Taiwan sent a 1,000-ton Coast Guard cutter to the area to replace another dispatched there immediately after the ruling was announced last week.

Besides the Coast Guard cutters, the Defense Ministry has also sent a navy vessel to Taiping.

While the Presidential Office said Tsai does not have any immediate plans to visit Taiping Island, the United Daily News claimed Monday that she could make a trip there as early as next week on the grounds that both the Coast Guard and navy have sent vessels to prepare for the presidential visit.

The attitude of the United States will be key to the planned trip, the newspaper said.

When former President Ma Ying-jeou visited Taiping in January, Washington expressed disappointment and called the trip "unhelpful."

If Tsai does visit Taiping Island, she would be the third Taiwanese president to do so.

Meanwhile, fishermen in southern Taiwan have said that they are also organizing trips to visit Taiping Island this week.

Besides Taiwan and China, the disputes over islands and reefs in the South China Sea also involve Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

The tribunal hearing in The Hague was instigated by the Philippines due to its disputes with China, which has undertaken a massive land reclamation program on a number of reefs and islands in the South China Sea.
==Kyodo
18/7/16
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