Taipei Times
Date: Jul 14, 2016
By: William Lowther / Staff reporter in WASHINGTON
China’s defiant reaction to the South China Sea ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in
US National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Tuesday. Photo: Nadia Tsao, Taipei Times
The Hague — and Taiwan’s own rejection of the ruling — have been met with warnings from US pundits, although US Department of State sources said they needed more time to consider statements from Taipei and Beijing.
Taipei’s response openly rejecting the decision was “a big mistake,” New York University School of Law professor Jerome Cohen said.
He said that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was struggling to adjust “to an uncomfortable situation” and that she would be criticized at home for following Beijing’s “lawless line at the same time that Beijing was responsible for excluding Taiwan from participation in the arbitration.”
American Enterprise Institute research fellow Michael Mazza said: “Unfortunately, Taipei’s reaction to today’s [Tuesday’s] ruling may only deepen a feeling among other claimants that Taiwan is part of the problem rather than part of the solution.” [FULL STORY]