Lawmaker proposes sending marines back to South China Sea

Taiwan should redeploy its marine corps, which was replaced by the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) in 2000, to the South China Sea to increase its bargaining power in the disputed area, said ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang.

Six countries -- Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines -- claim all or part of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea area, in which lies the Spratly Islands, the Paracel Islands, the Pratas Islands, the Macclesfield Bank and the Scarborough Shoal.

Taiwan controls Dongsha Island, the largest island in the entire South China Sea, and Taiping Island, the largest island in the Spratlys. It withdrew its marine corps in 2000 in an attempt to reduce tensions in the region.

However, the hot-button issue resurfaced last week after a meeting between Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Guo Boxiong, vice chairman of the Chinese Central Military Commission, which resulted in an agreement to “work closely to develop basic measures” on issues related to the area, according to Vietnamese media and China's Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, the government of the Philippines made an official complaint to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf regarding China's claim to the sea area.

China has said the area is part of its “core interests,” while the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last July that the U.S. “has a national interest in freedom of navigation and open access” to the region.

“With the involved parties stepping up their rhetoric and dialogue, the issue could flare up sometime in the future,” Lin said. “Taiwan should increase its military presence in the region to gain more leverage.”

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