Seattlepi.com
Date: July 18, 2015
By RALPH JENNINGS, Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — As China builds artificial islands in a vast resource-rich South China

FILE -This Monday, May 11, 2015, file photo taken through a glass window of a military plane shows China’s alleged on-going reclamation of Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. As China builds artificial islands in a vast resource-rich South China Sea and neighbors in Southeast Asia brace for possible conflict, Taiwan is cutting carbon emissions and offering a hospital for humanitarian aid on the sea’s largest natural islet to seek international approval for easing tension. (Ritchie B. Tongo/Pool Photo via AP) Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, AP / European Pressphoto Agency POOL

Sea and neighbors in Southeast Asia brace for possible conflict, Taiwan is cutting carbon emissions and offering a hospital for humanitarian aid on the sea’s largest natural islet to seek international approval for easing tension.

Taiwan’s unusual use of Taiping Island in the heavily contested Spratly archipelago may appeal particularly to the United States, a staunch, long-time informal ally that has at least scrutinized the legal basis for Taiwan’s maritime claims. Washington, seeking stable relations with China as well, has also urged the six claimants to cooperate rather than fight.

Taiwan, which lacks the diplomatic ties to negotiate with the other five governments with claims in the South China Sea, has installed $1.29 million worth of solar panels on Taiping Island since 2011 to light a cluster of buildings and provide power for construction of a 200-meter (yard) pier due for completion by year’s end, the head of the island’s coast guard said Friday.     [FULL  STORY]