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By Representative Mr. William Chuang, Taipei Representative Office in Denmark
I agree with Mr. Andreas Bøje Forsby from DIIS that every country should respect the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In Forsby’s article from July 13, he writes, that all involved countries should respect the arbitration to the common good of all countries. Denmark also wants powerful nations to respect the legal order, he says.
Still Taiwan (The Republic of China) cannot accept the ruling rendered by the tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration for various reasons: 1) First of all, Taiwan was belittled as it was addressed as Taiwan Authority of China, although the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a sovereign country. 2) Taiwan was not invited as one of the parties even though Taiwan also lays claim to areas in the South China Sea. 3) The Taiping Island was mentioned as nothing but a rock which denies Taiwan’s rightful claim to the island and its surrounding waters even though it since WWII has been an important outpost for Taiwan. Only 4 months ago, Taiwan invited international media to visit the Taiping Island to see the island’s basic institutions such as a hospital, its solar cell panels and the agricultural production of the island. CNN’s report from the Taiping-visit can still be found online. From the mentioned reasons, we will continue to defend our sovereignty over the South China Sea Islands and not tolerate any attempt to harm Taiwan’s national interests.
As mentioned before, as a starting point, everyone should follow the arbitration. However, when rulings contradict the reality, Taiwan (ROC) is left with no choice but to safeguard our meaningful engagement and territory in the South China Sea. Denmark’s engagement in the Arctic council demonstrates such a meaningful cooperation framework. The respective member states of this intergovernmental forum have equal rights to be heard with the scope to promote cooperation within various fields. Likewise, Taiwan is willing to enter negotiations on equal footings with all involved parties to find peaceful solutions to the common good.
