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Taiping is an island with fresh water: Ex-President Ma

ROC Central News Agency

2016/07/14 20:48:30

Taipei, July 14 (CNA) Former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Thursday displayed a bottle of water that he said was from the Taiwan-controlled Taiping Island and therefore proved that it was in fact an island and not a rock.

Taiping, the largest land feature in the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea, has good quality fresh water and can sustain human habitation, Ma said at a seminar on the recent ruling by an international tribunal on South China Sea territorial issues.

Ma said Taiping's wells can produce 65 tons of fresh water per day, 3 tons of which can be consumed without treatment.

Displaying the bottle of water that he said was from Taiping, Ma touted it as just good as imported Evian bottled water. Taiping is in fact an island, not a rock, and has the right to a 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Ma said.

In a case brought by the Philippines against China, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled Tuesday that none of the Spratly Islands, including Taiping, could be considered "islands" and therefore are not entitled to 200-nautical-mile EEZ.

The tribunal's ruling undermined Taiwan's claim to a 200-nautical-mile EEZ on Taiping Island since the court did not define Taiping as an island mainly because of the fresh water issue.

The tribunal said there are only three freshwater wells on Taiping, two of which are no longer providing water, and the wells all usually dry up in April or May.

But Ma said Taiping's freshwater resources were in fact one of its advantages.

"We don't know where they got that information," Ma said, referring to the court's statement.

He said that earlier this year, several foreign scholars were offered potable water from the No. 5 well during a visit to Taiping and they all thought the quality was good.

This shows that the tribunal's information was outdated, Ma said.

He said he had invited the members of the tribunal to visit Taiping to see for themselves that it was an island with fresh water sources and capable of sustaining farm production, livestock and human habitation, but they did not accept the invitation.

"How could these judges, who lack knowledge of Taiping, have made a convincing ruling?" Ma said.

Taiping is the only place in the Spratly Islands that has freshwater, Ma said, adding that a navigation guidebook published in Britain mentioned the good quality of the water on the island.

The international court ruling does not help settle the issues in the South China Sea but rather creates more problems, Ma said.

He expressed support for President Tsai Ing-wen's (蔡英文) stance that Taiwan would not accept the ruling.

"If she needs opinions on the matter, I would be willing share mine with her," Ma said in his first public comments on the matter since the ruling was handed down.

In its ruling, the Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected China's claims to economic rights across large swathes of the South China Sea, a decision that was seen as a victory for the Philippines.

"There was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the 'nine-dash line'," the court said, referring to a demarcation line on a 1947 map of the sea area, which is rich in energy, mineral and fishing resources.

(By Claudia Liu, Tang Pei-chun and Evelyn Kao)
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