CHINA-TAIWAN: SOUTH CHINA SEA
|
Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou announced that he and 20 members of his staff and law of the sea experts would fly 1600 km on January 28, 2016, without media on board, to wish Republic of China personnel on Taiping (Itu Aba) island a Happy Year of the Monkey. The US Government representative in Taiwan, has expressed its “disappointment” over Ma’s travel plan and denounced it as an action that “is extremely unhelpful and (that) does not contribute to the peaceful resolution of disputes.” (Comment: Itu Aba lies in the Spratly archipelago, where China's rapid construction of seven man-made islands has drawn alarm across parts of Asia and been heavily criticized by Washington. Taiwan has just finished a $100 million port upgrade and built a new lighthouse on Itu Aba, which has its own airstrip, a hospital and fresh water.Dustin Wang, a long-time Taiwanese scholar on the South China Sea, said Itu Aba was "the fourth largest island in the Spratlys after China's land reclamation work on Mischief Reef, Fiery Cross Reef and Subi Reef. The island supports around 180 people, about 150 of them coastguard personnel who have had oversight of the 46-hectare (114-acre) island since 2000." While a statement issued by the DPP said it would not join Ma Ying-jeou's trip, DPP's Chen Shui-bien had visited Taiping island in early February 2008.)
|