GLOBAL REACH:Former president Ma said that the government could buy Internet and international media advertising to explain Taiping Island’s status to the world

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 17, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

In an opinion piece yesterday published by the Chinese-language United Daily News, former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) presented 10 pieces of advice “for President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) reference” on ways to uphold Taiwan’s rights in the South China Sea and the status of Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島).

Tuesday’s ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the Netherlands, over a case the Philippines brought against China said all high-tide features in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), including Itu Aba Island, are “rocks” rather than “islands” and are not entitled to 200 nautical mile (370.4km) exclusive economic zones (EEZs).

In the article, Ma said that when attorneys representing the Philippines in November last year started to “exert all their efforts to downgrade the legal status of Taiping Island and quoted a [Taiwanese] international legal academic’s article to falsely assert that Taiping Island lacks a fresh water source, is not arable, has no civilian residents and relies on imports for resources, I was alarmed and started to prepare a counterattack.”

Arranging ministers and academics for a visit to the island in December last year, making a personal visit to the island in January and inviting local and foreign academics and journalists to the island in March, April and May were all parts of his countermeasures, he said.     [FULL  STORY]