U.S. Throws Curveball to Test Direction on Taiping Island Sovereignty
By Hsu Ho-chien
China Times, May 9, 2024
Opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators intended to visit Taiping Island before the inauguration of incoming President William Lai on May 20 but unexpectedly faced scrutiny by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus of the Legislative Yuan, which has suggested that this trip is to "cheer" for China and claimed that it may release a "wrong signal" to the international community. Such questioning from the ruling DPP is surprising. In terms of land registration perspective, Taiping Island has been under the jurisdiction of the 18th Neighborhood of Zhongxing Village, Qijin District, Kaohsiung City since 2009. In August 2016, shortly after President Tsai Ing-wen took office, Chen Chin-te, then deputy mayor of Kaohsiung, also led officials from the city government to inspect Taiping Island. At that time, there was no dissent from DPP Party legislators regarding the inspection of their own territory.
From the perspective of geopolitical dynamics, despite continuous tensions between mainland China and the Philippines over the Second Thomas Shoal in recent months, both sides have shown restraint in the midst of intense confrontation, with no intention of escalating into a larger conflict. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines recently made it clear that the Philippines has no intention of using water cannons against China’s Coast Guard ships, demonstrating a clear intention to avoid accidental escalation. Furthermore, as the military of the United States, the Philippines, and Australia conducted joint military exercises on Batan Island, just 219 kilometers from Hengchun, the southernmost point of Taiwan, preparing for potential disturbances in the Taiwan Strait, a group of newly elected representatives of the Legislature intended to inspect Taiping Island as a gesture affirming the general public’s stance of Taiwan on the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, and ensuring regional peace and stability. Isn't this the best opportunity for Taiwan to voice its own opinions amidst the delicate situation and various concerns from all sides?
Certainly, the DPP’s "overreaction" to those legislators' inspection of Taiping Island mainly stems from the legal context of Taiwan's connection to the South China Sea islands. In December 1946, after World War II, the Republic of China dispatched Navy vessels such as the Taiping and Zhongye to the South China Sea, occupying and reclaiming the Nansha Islands briefly controlled by the Japanese during the war. Since then, the control and sovereignty of Taiping Island by the R.O.C. government have continued to this day. Even after the Chinese Civil War and the R.O.C. government's relocation to Taiwan, this legal and historical continuity has not changed. To this day, Taiwan, as one of the claimants in the South China Sea dispute, still relies on the "Map of the South China Sea Islands" published by the Ministry of the Interior in December 1947, which delineates the U-shaped 11-dash line. This legal stance has remained unchanged under various administrations, including presidents Chiang Kai-shek, Lee Teng-hui, Chen Shui-bian, and Ma Ying-jeou. When President Tsai attended “The 70th Anniversary Commemorative Exhibition of the Recovery of the South China Sea Islands" in December 2016 as president, she reiterated and acknowledged the positions of previous governments.
Now, at the sensitive juncture of the transition between the Tsai and Lai administrations, the DPP caucus opposes parliamentary inspections of the South China Sea territories. The fundamental cause of this opposition is their unwillingness to remind the public: Taiwan's current connection to Taiping Island, located 1,600 kilometers away, still rests on the historical continuity of the R.O.C. government representing all of China's sovereignty rights before 1949. This is precisely a segment of DNA that the DPP hopes the Taiwanese society will ignore and self-deny.
The deeper key to the DPP’s eagerness to cooperate with the United States and exert pressure on Taiwanese compatriots lies in the 11-dash U-shaped line drawn by the R.O.C. government in 1947. Once Taiwan agrees to retreat, weaken, or even completely abandon the sovereignty interpretation of the U-shaped line drawn in 1947, it would greatly assist the United States, the Philippines, and others in attacking mainland China's assertion of the nine-dash line inherited from the R.O.C. This has long been a tactic of the United States during the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou from 2008 to 2016, but it has not been realized to date. DDP legislators, such as Rosalia Wu, who has challenged the visit to Taiping Island by KMT and TPP legislators, may seem like a minor dispute between the ruling and opposition parties, yet it is also a way to test the waters, gauging the policy direction of the Lai administration, potential compliance with American pressure and significant changes to the R.O.C. government's sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, as well as changes in historical narratives. Faced with these interconnected calculations, can the opposition, the blue and white legislators have any reason not to visit Taiping Island?
In recent times, the United States has not only continuously bolstered its military presence and reinforced physical and psychological preparations with regional allies for potential Taiwan Strait contingencies but has also increasingly challenged Beijing on the international legal front. Recently, the Biden administration revisited an old issue, once again stating that United Nations General Assembly Resolution No. 2758 "does not constitute the UN’s position on Taiwan's final political status." From a pragmatic standpoint, American intentions to delineate Taiwan's international activities are becoming increasingly apparent through the following strategies: maintaining a security bottom line that does not support Taiwan independence while encouraging other countries to interpret their own “One China” policy independently to challenge mainland China repeatedly; denying the limitations posed by UN Resolution No. 2758 on countries' interactions with Taiwan; simultaneously claiming to maintain its “One China” policy while boldly questioning mainland China's sovereignty stance towards Taiwan. This series of increasingly intricate and strategic maneuvers poses challenges to Taiwan. Are the ruling and opposition parties in Taiwan prepared to handle them?
From: https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20240509004743-262104?chdtv