观察： 南海仲裁案在台湾

choi

(1) 林楠森, 观察： 南海仲裁案在台湾. BBC Chinese, July 21, 2016.
http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp ... o_hagua_arbitration

Quote:

"台湾本周有8名来自两大政党立委登上了南中国海斯普拉特利群岛的伊图阿巴 Itu Aba 岛（台称：太平岛），同时眼下有也数艘台湾渔船正在前往这个距台约1600公里的争议海域。 在海牙国际法庭此前就南海案作出的仲裁将太平岛定位为礁而岛下，包括登岛的国民党立委江启臣以及这几艘渔船，都宣称他们是要去捍护太平岛主权，即使海牙国际法庭此前就南海案作出的仲裁，并没有否定台湾对太平岛主张的主权或其实际控制权。

"对于一些渔民提出 '维护200海里经济海域' 的要求，蔡英文照办的可能性看来也不高。因若这种以太平岛为中心圈海200海里要求成真，那将会把附近中国、菲律宾及越南控制的海域圈划在内。即使台湾不怕因此在南海与包括中国或东盟国家军事冲突，也有学者也从渔业经济利益角度指出这种作法没有支撑理由。因据台湾渔业署统计，南海渔获仅占台湾总渔获量不到0.2%。

My comment:
(a) So far I have remained silent on this topic. More than confused by stances of Taiwan (specifically the Tsai administration) and Taiwanese, I often feel as if they (including the government) are fools and self-contradictory. In my view, Ms Tsai Ing-wen is always coy. President Chen Shui-bian might not win Ms Congeniality contest (in a pageant), but most of us knew where he stood on issues. Ms Tsai holds a Ph.D. in law at the London School of Economics (1984), but she and the predecessor, Ma Ying-jiou, are both ignorant of legal principles, it appears to me.
(i) Quotation 1 is easy to understand if we know United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: The Convention -- hence the tribunal -- is without authority to determine sovereignty, thus 并没有否定台湾对太平岛主张的主权或其实际控制权." Still the voices in Taiwan focuses on safeguarding the sovereignty of the island.
(ii) Itu Aba island is surrounded by many other islands, so its EEZ is not much - imagining the tribunal had ruled it were an island, not a rock.
(iii) Of course, Taiwan is entitled to disregard the tribunal and its ruling, because the basic legal principle anywhere is a non-party is not bound by a judgment.

(b) Some Taiwanese are unhappy about the appelation "Taiwan Authority of China,"

I do not think the appellation amounts to anything. Taiwan is a non-party in the first place, so who cares how it is called. Secondly, the tribunal is part of UN, which identifies Taiwan as "Taiwan, province of China" --so what did those Taiwanese expect?

(c) "宣布要维持现状的蔡英文在南海议题上在表面上并不再如马英九那样，将台湾的身份以中国自居，宣称中华民国对南海的主权始于中国西汉。然而她也说她要维持的现状是按中华民国宪法。此一宪法除自称身份是中国＂自由地区＂的合法政府，其宣称在南海的领土范围则不仅包括太平岛，且还更往南及于马来西亚外海的曾海暗沙（James Shoal）。
(i) The truth is: Constitution of Republic of China, adopted in mainland China on Dec 25, 1946, and going into effect exactly a year later, did / does (depending on whether ROC is extant) not identify its territories ("第4條  中華民國領土，依其固有之疆域，非經國民大會之決議，不得變更之。")
(ii) ROC promulgated the eleven (11)-dash line "in December 1947."
Nine-dash line
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-dash_line
(section 1 History)

Therefore, the South China Sea (which is what we called/call  it in Taiwan; this BBC commentary calls it 南海, perhaps to suit readers from PRC) could not possibly be part of the territory of ROC (even while it was in mainland China).

(2) 陈民峰, 台湾政府护南海主权强硬声明引发绿营不满. 法广, July 20, 2016
http://cn.rfi.fr/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B ... 5%E4%B8%8D%E6%BB%A1
(20日在记者会)

Note:  法广 did not say it explicitly, but 台湾智库 and 台湾教授协会 appear at the same press conference.