Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-22
By: Staff Reporter

Lynn Kuok, a Singaporean research fellow for US think tank the Brookings Institution

Members of Taiwan’s coast guard carry out live-fire exercises with a 120 mm mortar. (Photo/China Times)

suggested Ma Ying-jeou’s administration clarify the Republic of China’s nine-dash line claims over the disputed South China Sea under International Law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, as a way to bring China to the negotiating table.

In her article, Kuok stated that the People’s Republic of China in Beijing actually inherited the nine-dash line claims from the Republic of China after the latter retreated to Taiwan in 1949. Such a claim allows China to claim the entire South China Sea as its territorial waters. Kuok praised Ma Ying-jeou’s approach of taking a small but significant step to state that its claims are in accordance with UNCLOS and international laws.

She then suggested that the spirit of putting the disputes aside and engaging in joint exploitation from Ma Ying-jeou’s East China Sea Peace Initiative should be applied to the disputed South China Sea as well. Kuok believes that this approach will allow Taiwan to have more of a political presence in the region. However, she suggested President Ma push for the policy before the upcoming presidential election next year.     [FULL  STORY]