Taiwan abandoning nine-dash line in South China Sea would be disastrous

By Chiu Yi Source:Global Times Published: 2014-9-24 19:33:01

The mainland and Taiwan have plenty of room to cooperate on the South China Sea issue.

Taiping Island, administered by Taiwan, which is more than 1,600 kilometers from the Kaohsiung naval base is key to the South China Sea. It is beyond Taiwan's ability to effectively safeguard Taiping Island alone.

But cross-Straits cooperation will keep it safe.

Also, both the mainland and Taiwan use the nine-dash line as the boundary line of the South China Sea, which other countries in the region dispute and is being challenged by the Philippines under international arbitration.

In 1947, the Republic of China drew the 11-dash line. The People's Republic of China continued to use this line. Then in 1953 it was adjusted into the nine-dash line.

The disputes raised by some South China Sea claimants in recent years are due to their  desire for oil and natural gas in the South China Sea discovered in the 1970s and the US' pivot strategy to contain China.

The arbitration raised by the Philippines has generated a dispute between China's nine-dash line and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The US and the Philippines sought to blame Beijing for violating the international law.

Although the Chinese mainland government has stated that it would not accept the decision made by the international court, it will be propelled to a passive position if the US, Japan and the Philippines take joint measures and Vietnam follows suit.

Taiwan cannot avoid being involved in this dispute. If Taiwan insists on the nine-dash line and offers proof for the 11-dash line, it will be of great help in settling the dispute. It will also show cross-Straits cooperation. Otherwise it will hurt the interests of the mainland and destroy the peaceful development of relations between the two sides.

Although Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou adopts a pro-US attitude, he will not go so far as to sell out Chinese sovereignty.

Meanwhile, the nine-dash line has been clearly written in the current "constitution" and textbooks in Taiwan. If Ma gives up the nine-dash line, he will violate the "constitution" and be treated with contempt by the pan-blue public.

Realistically, if Taiwan abandons the nine-dash line, it will lose a basis for its "sovereignty" over Taiping Island as well as the South China Sea. Although Taiwan faces pressure from the US, Ma will hardly make such a choice.

But after 2016 if the Democratic Progressive Party takes office and follows the "Taiwan independence" doctrine, it will become a political vassal of the US as to counter a rising Chinese mainland.

If so, Taiwan abandoning the nine-dash line can be expected, and a cross-Straits conflict may lead to disastrous consequences.

The author is a former Taiwanese Kuomintang "legislator." opinion@globaltimes.com.cn



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