By Shannon Tiezzi
Ma Ying-jeou plans to visit Itu Aba tomorrow, to the consternation of the U.S. and Vietnam.
Current Taiwanese President President Ma Ying-jeou plans to visit a disputed island in the South China Sea tomorrow, a presidential spokesperson said on Wednesday. Ma will visit Taiping Island, also know as Itu Aba, the largest natural island in the Spratly group. Mainland China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam all have competing claims to the Spratlys. Taiwan has controlled Itu Aba, since 1956; today it houses around 200 personnel from Taiwan’s coast guard, navy, and air force.
Ma will be visiting the island ostensibly to greet the troops ahead of the Lunar New Year, according to Presidential Office spokesperson Charles Chen. Ma will be accompanied by “20 government officials, scholars, and experts,” according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency. It will be Ma’s first visit to the island, although his predecessor, Chen Shui-bian, also took a trip to Itu Aba in February 2008.
The timing in both cases is fascinating – in both instances, the sitting president was well into a lame-duck period, with a member of the opposition party already having been elected to replace him (in Chen’s case, Ma of the Kuomingtang or KMT had just won election; this time around, the Democratic Progressive Party’s Tsai Ing-wen is set assume the presidency on May 20). The DPP was invited to send an envoy along on Ma’s trip, but spokesperson Yang Chia-liang said the party had no plans to take part.
Itu Aba has come into focus recently thanks to its inclusion in the Philippines’ arbitration case against China’s claims in the South China Sea. Manila’s case argues that Itu Aba is a rock, not an island, under the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) – meaning it would not be entitled to a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone. Taiwanese officials (including U.S. Representative Lyushun Shen, in an interview with The Diplomat) have countered that, as a land feature with naturally occurring fresh water and agricultural production, Itu Aba qualifies as an island. Taiwan is not directly involved in the arbitration– and indeed, was excluded from sending observers to the oral arguments – but Taipei is trying to make sure its case is heard nonetheless. Ma’s visit is part of that effort.
Read the full story at The Diplomat