Sovereignty over the Spratlys II

On the other hand, the weather observatory on Eternal Summer was opened in August 1989. A runway was completed on Woody Island in April 1991.

On February 25, 1992 the People's Republic promulgated a territorial waters law to justify construction of establishments on all the isles of the Spratlys it occupies. Then, on July 16, Beijing proclaimed its plan to solve disputes over the South China Sea islands. The People's Republic opposes the internationalization of the question of the South China Sea archipelagoes, proposing instead to shelve the disputes over sovereignty and start joint development of their natural resources.

The National People's Congress ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on May 15, 1996. The Republic of China on Taiwan, ousted from the United Nations in 1971, is not a signatory to the convention concluded in 1982.

On February 1, 2000, the garrison duties on Taiping, the largest island of the Spratlys, were transferred to the National Coast Guard Administration in Taipei. The Marine Corps garrison was withdrawn. Coast guardsmen have since been stationed. A 1,150-meter runway was completed on Taiping in 2006. President Chen Shui-bian paid a whirlwind visit to Taiping aboard a C-130 transport plane on February 2, 2008.

No clashes of any kind occurred over Chungsha or the Macclesfield Bank, which is a group of reefs. Tungsha or the Pratas Islands are under Taiwan's control. But Taiwan has no control whatsoever over Hsisha or the Paracel Islands, though the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated its sovereignty over them earlier last month when Vietnam announced the establishment of a local government on the isles under its occupation. No protests can be filed against the People's Republic, which has placed them and all other South China Sea archipelagoes under the jurisdiction of Hainan and claims Taiwan as one of its provinces.

As the situation on the Spratlys now stands, Taiping, the largest of them, is under Taiwan's full control. Eleven other smaller isles of the Spratlys are fully controlled by the People's Republic, while Vietnam occupies another 27 that are even smaller and include reefs. The Philippines is in actual control of eight islets and reefs. Still another three islets are occupied by Malaysia. Brunei claims sovereignty over Nantung-chiao, a small uninhabited isle, but stations no troops. Indonesia does not claim sovereignty over any isles of the four island groups, but its 200-mile EEZ overlaps that of the Spratlys.

Taiwan is excluded from Beijing's plan to develop oil and other resources in the South China Sea jointly with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia are members. They all made submissions by May 13 to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which would clarify the limits of their sea claims when the continental shelf extends more than 200 nautical miles beyond a baseline such as their coasts. But Taiwan could not, for it is not a signatory to the convention on the law of the sea and was not asked to make a

submission. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must proclaim Taiwan's claim at the earliest possible date lest it should be perceived as having given up any claim without complaint. In the meantime, Taipei has to try to join in Beijing's initiative to jointly develop the South China Sea resources with the ASEAN states which also claim sovereignty over the four island groups, in particular the Spratlys.

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