President Ma Ying-jeou has spent Thursday on Taiping Island in the South China Sea. Ma visited personnel stationed on the island and offered them Chinese New Year greetings. Taiping Island is administered by Taiwan but also claimed by China, the Philippines and Vietnam.
While on the island, Ma spoke about his South China Sea Peace Initiative. The initiative holds that countries with competing claims in the South China Sea should shelve disputes over sovereignty and work together to develop the region.
Ma said the framework of his peace initiative calls for cooperation from all parties on issues including conservation and management of biological resources, marine protection and scientific research, crime prevention at sea, and humanitarian aid.
Ma said that Taiping Island is lawfully an island according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and not a reef. Ma said therefore the island can be claimed as an exclusive economic zone, and Taiwan has the right to make claims on the island. Ma said that Taiwan’s long term placement of surveillance personnel on the island is proof of Taiwan’s sovereignty in the area.