China’s sovereignty claim over the Taiwan Strait is false, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that the only waters a country has full sovereignty over are the 12 nautical miles (22km) around its territory.
Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) reiterated that the government considers the Taiwan Strait to be international waters, except for the 12-nautical-mile strip defined as territorial waters.
“Our government has always respected any activity conducted by foreign vessels in the Taiwan Strait that is allowed under international law,” she said, including US vessels passing through.
Photo courtesy of the Military News Agency
“We understand and support the freedom of navigation operations conducted by the US, as these operations promote peace and stability in the region,” she said.
Ou accused Beijing of “distorting international law” in ignoring Taipei’s 12-nautical-mile sovereignty claim in the Taiwan Strait, and said that by downgrading the Strait to its own exclusive economic zone (EEZ), China “revealed its ambition to annex Taiwan.”
Taiwan would continue to work with like-minded countries to uphold a rules-based international order, and promote peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, she added.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
On Monday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) said that Beijing had sovereign and administrative rights to the Taiwan Strait, and denied US claims that the channel should be treated as international waters.
Wang claimed that the waterway fell within China’s territorial waters and EEZ as defined by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and domestic law.
“China enjoys sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait, while respecting the legitimate rights of other countries in the relevant maritime areas,” Wang said in Beijing. “There is no such thing as ‘international waters’ in UNCLOS. By claiming that the Taiwan Strait is international waters, some countries intend to create an excuse for its manipulation of the Taiwan issue, and threaten China’s sovereignty and security.”
UNCLOS states that countries can claim waters within 12 nautical miles of their coastline as territorial seas, where they have full sovereignty.
They can also claim the waters within 200 nautical miles of their coastline as an EEZ, where they have a sovereign right to the water column, sea floor and resources, but other countries still have the right to sail through or fly over the waters.
Most of the Taiwan Strait is less than 200 nautical miles wide, resulting in overlapping EEZ claims by Taiwan and China in the waterway.
Although UNCLOS does not define “international waters,” it does define “high seas” as referring to waters that are beyond the territorial sea or to areas outside EEZs that do not belong to any state’s jurisdiction.
The Democratic Progressive Party yesterday issued a news release condemning the Chinese statements as baseless and attempting to unilaterally upset the “status quo.”
The Chinese statement is a declaration of its expansionist ambitions, attempting to contravene Taiwan’s sovereignty, disrupt the international maritime order, and disrupt regional peace and stability, it said.
China should not live in its own world and push a baseless claim, the party said, calling for the Chinese Communist Party to halt its actions before it causes irreparable harm.
US-based China affairs analyst Ian Easton told the Central News Agency that the Chinese government and military are “increasing their long-term campaign of coercion against Taiwan, and they plan to be even more provocative in the future.”
“In my view, it is time for the US to step up and do more to support regional security. A US Navy ship visit to Taiwan, public visits from high-level American officials and bilateral US-Taiwan defense drills are all long overdue,” he wrote in an e-mail.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,