Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/11/02
By: Scarlett Chai, Tai Ya-chen and Y.F. Low
Beijing, Nov. 2 (CNA) A Chinese official said Monday that the two sides of the Taiwan
Strait have the responsibility and obligation to jointly uphold “the country’s” territorial sovereignty and maritime interests.
Hua Chunying (華春瑩), a spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry, was responding to an Oct. 31 statement by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) that Taiwan did not recognize or accept a ruling by an international arbitration panel that it could hear a case brought by the Philippines against China over disputed territory in the South China Sea.
The ministry’s statement came after the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Netherlands ruled on Oct. 29 that it has jurisdiction to hear the case, in which the Philippines argues that China’s “nine-dash line” territorial claim over South China Sea waters is unlawful under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Also Monday, the MOFA reiterated Taiwan’s stance on the South China Sea. [FULL STORY]