|
Ma proposes East
China Sea initiative
CALLS FOR RESTRAINT: Ma called on all parties to
refrain from aggression, while the DPP said Ma escalated tensions by sending the
coast guard to accompany activists
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter, with CNA
President Ma Ying-jeou proposes
an East China Sea peace initiative during a ceremony in Taipei yesterday to mark
the anniversary of a peace treaty signed between Japan and the Republic of China
at the end of World War II.
Photot Mandy CHENG, AFP
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday
proposed a peace initiative to address territorial disputes over the Diaoyutai
Islands (釣魚台), urging neighboring countries to show restraint and settle the
issue peacefully.
“We hope to use the East China Sea Peace Initiative to urge all sides to
seriously face the possible impact of this territorial dispute on peace and
security in the East China Sea,” Ma said.
Ma called on all parties to refrain from aggression, to shelve their
differences, to maintain dialogue, to observe international law and to resolve
the dispute by peaceful means. All sides should also seek consensus on a code of
conduct for the East China Sea, and establish a mechanism for cooperation on
exploring and developing resources in the region, he added.
All parties concerned should admit the existence of the dispute, while pursuing
peaceful means to resolve it, he said during the opening ceremony of an
exhibition in Taipei to mark the 60th anniversary of a peace treaty signed
between the Republic of China and Japan following the second Sino-Japan War.
Ma, who described himself as a long-term activist in the local Diaoyutais
movement since he was a university student, also reiterated the Republic of
China’s (ROC) sovereignty over the Diaoyutais, which Taiwan considers to be
under the jurisdiction of Yilan County in northeastern Taiwan.
Taiwan, Japan and China have been involved in heated disputes due to competing
territorial claims over the Diaoyutais for several years.
Ma’s remarks also come at a time when Japan is moving toward nationalizing the
Diaoyutais, known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) said Taiwan had notified Japan of
Ma’s proposed peace initiative before the president brought up the idea at the
ceremony. However, he added that the Japanese government had made no comment.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday recognized the “long overdue”
peace initiative by Ma, but urged Ma to take concrete and cautious diplomatic
actions over the Diaoyutai Islands dispute.
“It’s better to have a position than no position, but actions speak louder than
words. We urge President Ma to take the necessary measures to back up his
words,” DPP Department of International Affairs Director Liu Shih-chung (劉世忠)
said.
The Ma administration, which said it would “not give one inch on the islands’
sovereignty” last month, should stop escalating tensions over the disputed
islands, stop creating a false perception in the international community that
Taiwan and China would “co-manage” the Diaoyutai issue and cautiously deal with
Taiwan-Japan relations through diplomatic dialogue and negotiations, Liu said.
Liu said the Ma administration should shoulder part of the blame for rising
tensions in the region by sending five coast guard vessels to escort a fishing
boat full of activists waving a People’s Republic of China (PRC) flag in the
waters around the Diaoyutais.
“It hurts Taiwan’s global image and makes other countries think that Taiwan
stands on the same side as China,” he said.
Speaking on the sidelines of a book-launching ceremony yesterday, former
representative to Japan Lo Fu-chen (羅福全) said Ma’s effort to promote peace
should be recognized, but the initiative was somewhat vague.
Lo, who was a representative to Japan between 2000 and 2004, when the DPP was in
power, said he had not been able to fully grasp Ma’s definition of the East
China Sea because there are many flashpoints in the region, including a dispute
over undersea oil fields between China and Japan and a dispute over Takeshima,
also known as Dokdo in Korean, between Japan and South Korea, in addition to the
Diaoyutais.
Meanwhile, citing a code of conduct negotiated among Southeast Asian countries
to make legally binding a commitment to peaceful resolutions of sovereignty
disputes over the South China Sea, the ministry said Taiwan hoped a similar
initiative could be negotiated to address disputes over the East China Sea.
|
