Taiwan needs clear EEZ rights declaration

After all, Taipei's official reassertion of sovereignty over the Paracels and the Spratlys, which Hanoi and Manila certainly ignore, is infinitesimally better than its tacit surrender of the Tiaoyutai Islands to the Japanese, which they call the Senkakus.

All three archipelagoes, plus the Pratas Islands, are part of the territory of the Republic of China on Taiwan. But its official Year Book, published by the Government Information Office, has long made only cursory mention of the Tiaoyutais and the Paracels, unlike the Spratlys and Pratases which are described in detail. One legitimately suspects that Taipei has tacitly given up sovereign rights over the Tiaoyutais and the Paracels.

Our sovereignty over all of them and the Macclesfield Bank, which is one of the four South China Sea archipelagoes, is contested by Japan, the People's Republic of China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brunei. Taipei only desires to peacefully resolve disputes over sovereignty and step up the exploration and management of resources in its exclusive economic zones (EEZ). That is the reason why Taiwan has to reiterate its sovereignty over them and lodge protests whenever any one of the contesting nations makes a challenging statement or takes a challenging action.

But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has to do something more this time. President Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines said she had to reassert Manila's claim because all littoral states signatory to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 are required to make submissions on their EEZ and continental shelf claims with the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf before May 13. The purpose of that world body in taking submissions was to clarify the outer limits of the sea claims of these states when the continental shelf — one marker used for such claims — extends more than 200 nautical miles beyond a baseline, such as their coasts.

Last Wednesday, the PRC warned its neighbors to stay off disputed islands in the South China Sea to meet the U.N. deadline. Ma Zhaoxu, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, said a submission was made to assert that the PRC will not tolerate other countries claiming the four South China Sea island groups.

No statement has been issued by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs in response. As Taiwan isn't a signatory to the U.N. convention, Taipei wasn't required to make a submission to the U.N. commission. But the Republic of China on Taiwan still has sovereignty over all the four small archipelagoes, plus the Tiaoyutais to whose defense against Japan Ma Ying-jeou, a young Harvard student, and many other students of Taiwan were dedicated.

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