Notes on South China Disputes conflicts _ Part One

What is the meaning of President Ma get abroad on Taiping Island？ Why he needs to go there? What is the claim of Taiwan on South China Sea Disputes? Regarding on the South Chia Sea Disputes, what are the neighbouring countries fighting for? Why does the dispute rise again in recent years? Why did the Philippines take judicial proceedings against China? What are the effects of the arbitration to us? 

Preface

Taiwanese Government believes that, according to the constitutional law of the Republic of China (ROC/Taiwan), Taiwan indigenously owns Begonia （Begonia taiwaniana, refers to land of Mongolia) , plus, a piece of sea-land, which is South Sea.

Either Kuomintang or minjintang period, the diplomatic department had been delivering many official statements regarding to the South China Sea Disputes, for example, in 2015 President Ma proposes peace initiative to resolve disoutes in South China Sea. The most often used statement Taiwan government use is : 中華民國政府重申：無論就歷史、地理及國際法而言，南沙群島、西沙群島、中沙群島、東沙群島及其周遭海域係屬中華民國固有領土及海域，中華民國享有國際法上的權利，不容置疑。However in reality, Taiwan can only control the following land : Dongsha Atoll.

Over the whole domain of South China Sea, Xisha Islands has been under China’s control, Zhongsha Islands has no single piece of lands emerge from the water besides Scarborough Shoal (which China just took over it from the Philippines. Spratly Islands （南沙群島） are separately owned by Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, China and Malaysia…

Why everyone is fighting for South China Sea?

South China is a large piece of ocean with numbers of tiny islands. Natural resources on those islands are limited, but people are indeed fighting for the oil resources beneath and the important shipping routes/military base.

Countries along the South China Sea indeed fighting the islands base on a regulation from UNCLOS, it introduced the Principle of Domination(land dominates the sea). Briefly saying, if a country wants to declare domain sovereignty on economic sea area, she has to  first own an island, and from the extended area within 200 miles from the island, she has the right of practising fishing industry and extracting the oil resources . 

What is indeed an island? 

It’s indeed not that easy to form an island. According to UNCLOS, term 121 item 1, islands have to be naturally formed, the land has to be higher than the sea level during the tidal maximum. What’s more, if a country wants to conduct economic activities on the islands, according to UNCLOS term 121 item3: This piece of island must be able to sustain human activities on the island or fulfilling mankind’s economic needs. However these two regulations had been bringing many arguments as neither international Court of Justice nor the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea have further explain the details.There was also no judicial cases had been made based on them.