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Ex-president says tribunal ruling 'unfair,' 'unreasonable' in WSJ

ROC Central News Agency

2016/07/27 20:08:52

Taipei, July 27 (CNA) Former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said the Taiwanese people are "furious" about a ruling handed down by a tribunal in favor of the Philippines in its case challenging the legitimacy of China's claims in the South China Sea, because the verdict is "unfair and patently unreasonable."

Writing in an op-ed piece titled "A flawed verdict in the South China Sea" that appeared in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal, Ma was referring to the July 12 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

The court said China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to resources within the South China Sea areas falling within a "nine-dash line" and that all high-tide features in the Spratly Islands, including the Taiwan-controlled Taiping (also known as Itu Aba), are legally "rocks," and therefore, not entitled to a 200-nautical mile economic zone.

The ruling came despite the fact that "Taiping is the largest naturally formed island in the Spratly group and the only one among the Spratlys that has fresh water," Ma said.

"For Taiwan, the verdict is unfair and patently unreasonable," the former president said.

"First, it lacks due process of law," he pointed out.

Noting that although Taiwan has controlled Taiping Island for the past 70 years, "when the tribunal was discussing Taiping Island's status, Taiwan was neither invited to participate nor consulted."

Ma also said the ruling's logic is "unreasonable." He cited Article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which says that "rocks" that cannot "sustain human habitation or economic life of their own" are not entitled to an exclusive economic zone or continental shelf.

The tribunal has now modified that standard, Ma said, by ruling that a land feature must have an "objective capacity which can sustain a stable community of people," an extra requirement not contained in the original language of UNCLOS.

It also adds that this capacity does not include official personnel, which Ma also questioned.

"Are official personnel not human beings under Article 121 of UNCLOS?" he asked.

He further questioned the tribunal's ruling that economic activity should not be "dependent on outside resources."

"Is there any island or city in the world today that is completely self-sufficient and independent of outsides resources?" he asked.

He cited Singapore as an example, noting that it imports large quantities of water, food and energy, but is still entitled to an exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

"The people of Taiwan are furious," Ma said, adding that the Legislature passed a bipartisan resolution condemning the ruling and has asked President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to visit Taiping Island and reiterate Taiwan's sovereign and maritime claims.

Ma said that from December to May, he had invited more than 150 dignitaries to visit Taiping Island to let them see for themselves its favorable natural conditions, including the capacity to produce 65 tons of fresh water every day, enough to supply 1,500 people.

Ma said he has provided the tribunal with new and accurate information about Taiping Island.

He himself visited the island Jan. 28, held international press conferences in January and March, gave interviews to CNN and Singapore's Straits Times and published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, "all to help the tribunal understand the fact that Taiping is an island, not a rock."

But Ma lamented that the tribunal disregarded his efforts.

"I believe that the tribunal members' absence from the on-site survey of Taiping Island, which would have been permitted under UNCLOS, was a key factor that led them to believe the one-sided story offered by representatives of the Philippines."

The former president said a "remote ruling" that lacks evidence from on-site investigation and testimony from eyewitnesses cannot be convincing -- not for Taiwan nor for any other country whose island stakes are potentially threatened.

The ruling "produces more problems than answers for claimants in the South China Sea," Ma said.

Six countries -- Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei -- claim the South China Sea, either in whole or in part.

(By Hsieh Chia-chen and Lilian Wu)
ENDITEM/J