Monday, April 18, 2011

Lawmaker proposes sending marines back to South China Sea

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) A lawmaker proposed Monday that Taiwan send its marine corps back to the South China Sea to strengthen its position in the regional dispute over claims to the area.

Taiwan should redeploy its marine corps, which was replaced by the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) in 2000, to the South China Sea to increase its bargaining power in the disputed area, said ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang.

Six countries -- Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines -- claim all or part of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea area, in which lies the Spratly Islands, the Paracel Islands, the Pratas Islands, the Macclesfield Bank and the Scarborough Shoal.

Taiwan controls Dongsha Island, the largest island in the entire South China Sea, and Taiping Island, the largest island in the Spratlys. It withdrew its marine corp in 2000 in an attempt to reduce tensions in the region.

However, the hot-button issue resurfaced last week after a meeting between Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Guo Boxiong, vice chairman of the Chinese Central Military Commission, which resulted in an agreement to "work closely to develop basic measures" on issues related to the area, according to Vietnamese media and China's Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, the government of the Philippines made an official complaint to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf regarding China's claim to the sea area.

China has said the area is part of its "core interests, " while the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last July that the U.S. "has a national interest in freedom of navigation and open access" to the region.

"With the involved parties stepping up their rhetoric and dialogue, the issue could flare up sometime in the future," Lin said. "Taiwan should increase its military presence in the region to gain more leverage."

China, with its naval capability, could adopt a tougher stance, he warned.

Meanwhile, the countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have in recent years "dragged the United States and the European Union (EU) into the dispute to improve their bargaining power, " he noted.

The legislator said he had opposed the troop withdrawal in 2000 because he thought the move had hurt Taiwan's position in international negotiations.

Taiwan should "send the troops back as soon as possible because it will be necessary sooner or later," he said.

Lin proposed that Taiwan also consider deploying anti-ship missiles in the region.

In response, Foreign Minister Timothy C.T. Yang reiterated the Republic of China's claim to sovereignty over the entire South China Sea and said he hoped the issue could be resolved through peaceful dialogue.

However, Yang said that he would support "any measure that would increase Taiwan's capability to protect its territory."

It was not the first time Taiwan politicians or officials proposed sending troops back to the South China Sea. In 2006, then Defense Minister Lee Jye said in the legislature that he would consider such a move because China could use military force to invade Dongsha Island and Taiping Island.

The ROC military and the CGA share the task of safeguarding Taiwan's territory, but military deployment "is a sophisticated issue that requires a lot of effort, " Vice Defense Minister Lin Yu-pao said Monday in response to the suggestion to send troops back to the area. (By Chris Wang) enditem /pc