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President rebuts South China Sea ruling in first newspaper interview

ROC Central News Agency

2016/07/22 16:12:15

Taipei, July 22 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) reiterated Taiwan's stance of not accepting a recent ruling on the South China Sea in an interview with the Washington Post, calling for a peaceful resolution of the disputes.

"We will not accept their decision," Tsai told the newspaper when asked about the July 12 ruling handed down by the Permanent Court of Arbitration on disputes between China and the Philippines, in her first interview given to a media outlet since taking office May 20.

Taiwan opposes the ruling because as an interested party in the South China Sea, the country was not invited to participate in the proceedings, Tsai said in the interview conducted July 18.

In a transcript of the interview released by the Presidential Office Friday, the president also said Taiwan objected to the country being referred to as "the Taiwan Authority of China" and Taiping Island being denied status as "an island" in the ruling.

The arbitration case, brought up in 2013 by the Philippines against China under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) over their disputes in the South China Sea, determined that Taiping Island, along with other maritime features in the Spratly Islands, are mere rocks and do not enjoy a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

The legal battle was the result of China forcibly taking control of the Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines in 2012 over fishing disputes.

While the Washington Post only published reasons Tsai presented for Taiwan's rejection of the ruling in the interview, the Presidential Office's own transcript showed the president elaborated further by stating Taiwan's proposed solution to the disputes in the South China Sea.

Taiwan believes the South China Sea disputes should be solved peacefully under international law, including the UNCLOS, and the country should be included in the multilateral talks to solve the disputes, Tsai said in the interview.

Countries around the South China Sea have the obligation to ensure free passage of vessels and planes in the region, while Taiwan calls for related countries to set aside their disputes so they can jointly explore and develop the region that is believed to have rich reserves of natural resources, such as oil and natural gas, she added.

The solution is in line with the South China Sea Peace Initiative presented in May 2015 by Tsai's predecessor, former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

Taiwan and China both claim most of the South China Sea territories, while the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei each assert sovereignty over different parts of the area.

The links to the full text of the interview as released by the Presidential Office and the Washington Post's edited excerpts are as follows:

www.president.gov.tw/Default.aspx?tabid=131&itemid=37751&rmid=514

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2016/07/21/44b0a1a4-4e25-11e6-a422-83ab49ed5e6a_story.html

(By Sophia Yeh and Kay Liu)
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