A delegation led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) yesterday visited Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) in the South China Sea. They intended to challenge president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) position on Taiwan’s claim there, analysts have said.
The delegation of lawmakers from the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party intended to show support for Coast Guard Administration officials, inspect a new pier and reinforce Taiwan’s sovereignty, Central News Agency (CNA) quoted Ma as saying.
However, National Sun Yat-sen University professor emeritus Liao Dachi (廖達琪) told CNA last week that the visit was a challenge to Lai to reiterate Taiwan’s claims in the South China Sea.
The Republic of China historically claims all of the rocks, islands, reefs and features in the South China Sea and their surrounding waters that fall within the “nine-dash line.” Today, Taiwan controls Itu Aba, the uninhabited Zhongzhou Reef (中洲礁) and the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙島).
Despite its extensive claims, Taiwan generally refrains from asserting them over islands and features that are not under its control.
One reason that Lai might not want to assert Taiwan’s South China Sea claims at this time is that its relationship with the Philippines is warming after rocky ties when Rodrigo Duterte, who occasionally aligned with China, was Philippine president.
Ironically, China has not contested Taiwan’s presence on Itu Aba, with Beijing praising Taipei’s response to the 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which called Itu Aba “a rock,” and said it did not meet the definition of an island. Taiwan was prevented from contesting the ruling, but issued a statement saying that Itu Aba is an island as it has livestock, crops and fresh water — enough to support a human settlement.
Of course, China’s support was obviously motivated by a desire to reinforce its own claims by proxy through Taiwan. Arguably, China also has little motivation to contest Taiwan’s presence in the South China Sea, because it sees Taiwan as its own territory and, thus, Taipei’s claims are its own claims.
Likewise, Beijing is more likely to protest Japanese claims over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) — which Tokyo administers as the Senkaku Islands — than it is to protest Taiwan’s claims there.
However, things are different when it comes to territorial disputes between only Taiwan and China. For example, China has on occasion prevented Taiwan from supplying coast guard officials stationed on the Pratas Islands, claiming it was conducting drills in nearby airspace and so had to close the area to outside air traffic.
Such “gray zone” tactics are intended to put pressure on the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, but they demonstrate the complexity of Taiwan-China territorial disputes.
If Lai were to reiterate Taiwan’s claims, it would appease a large portion of voters. It would also not likely upset Taiwan’s Southeast Asian neighbors, as they know that Taipei is unlikely to act on its claims. On the other hand, if Lai failed to reiterate claims, it would galvanize KMT voters.
Ultimately it is in Lai’s best interest to speak up on Taiwan’s South China Sea claims.
The return of US president-elect Donald Trump to the White House has injected a new wave of anxiety across the Taiwan Strait. For Taiwan, an island whose very survival depends on the delicate and strategic support from the US, Trump’s election victory raises a cascade of questions and fears about what lies ahead. His approach to international relations — grounded in transactional and unpredictable policies — poses unique risks to Taiwan’s stability, economic prosperity and geopolitical standing. Trump’s first term left a complicated legacy in the region. On the one hand, his administration ramped up arms sales to Taiwan and sanctioned
The Taiwanese have proven to be resilient in the face of disasters and they have resisted continuing attempts to subordinate Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Nonetheless, the Taiwanese can and should do more to become even more resilient and to be better prepared for resistance should the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) try to annex Taiwan. President William Lai (賴清德) argues that the Taiwanese should determine their own fate. This position continues the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) tradition of opposing the CCP’s annexation of Taiwan. Lai challenges the CCP’s narrative by stating that Taiwan is not subordinate to the
US president-elect Donald Trump is to return to the White House in January, but his second term would surely be different from the first. His Cabinet would not include former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and former US national security adviser John Bolton, both outspoken supporters of Taiwan. Trump is expected to implement a transactionalist approach to Taiwan, including measures such as demanding that Taiwan pay a high “protection fee” or requiring that Taiwan’s military spending amount to at least 10 percent of its GDP. However, if the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) invades Taiwan, it is doubtful that Trump would dispatch
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has been dubbed Taiwan’s “sacred mountain.” In the past few years, it has invested in the construction of fabs in the US, Japan and Europe, and has long been a world-leading super enterprise — a source of pride for Taiwanese. However, many erroneous news reports, some part of cognitive warfare campaigns, have appeared online, intentionally spreading the false idea that TSMC is not really a Taiwanese company. It is true that TSMC depositary receipts can be purchased on the US securities market, and the proportion of foreign investment in the company is high. However, this reflects the