Taiwanese minister visits Taiping to assert claim over disputed South China Sea outpost
Move signals Taiwan’s rejection of international tribunal’s ruling that Taiping is merely a rock, not an island
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s government sent a minister to Taiping Island for the first time on Tuesday in a push to assert its claim over the contested South China Sea feature.
The trip by Interior Minister Yeh Jiunn-rong and a group of officials and researchers comes a month after an international tribunal ruled that no land formations in the disputed waters, including Taiping, could be considered islands. The visit signals Taiwan’s rejection of the ruling that the island is merely a rock unfit for human habitation.
Taiwan said the trip was part of a Ministry of Science and Technology project to establish Taiping as a research base with an observatory to study climate change and ocean currents.
“Minister Yeh boarded a transport plane along with land administration officials and climate and ocean experts to Taiping Island ... for a research project,” a ministry spokesman said.
Yeh was expected to return in the evening, the official said. Asked if the visit was meant to assert Taiwan’s sovereignty claim, the official said the action itself said it all.
