Story highlights
Outgoing President Ma visits Taiping Island, also known as Itu Aba
The island is part of the Spratly archipelago, claimed by multiple countries in the region
U.S. says president's trip is "extremely unhelpful"
Taiwan’s president has paid a visit to an island in disputed waters in the South China Sea, in a show of sovereignty that has drawn criticism from the United States.
Outgoing President Ma Ying-jeou landed Thursday on Taiping Island, also known as Itu Aba, a small land mass it controls more than 990 miles (1,600 km) south of Taiwan in the Spratly islands archipelago, the Office of the President said.
Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei also lay claim to all or part of the Spratlys, while China claims most of the South China Sea.
President Ma met with coastguard personnel and said that several islands in the disputed waters belonged to the Republic of China (ROC) – Taiwan’s official name. He pledged to resolve disputes peacefully.
“The Nansha (Spratly) Islands, Shisha (Paracel) Islands, Chungsha (Macclesfield Bank) Islands, and Tungsha (Pratas) Islands, as well as their surrounding waters, are an inherent part of ROC territory and waters, and the ROC enjoys all rights over these islands and their surrounding waters in accordance with international law. This is indisputable,” Ma said, according to a statement.
It is the first such visit by the island’s president since Ma’s predecessor Chen Shui-bian went to the island in February 2008.
‘Extremely unhelpful’
Before Ma’s visit, the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. embassy, had said that it was disappointed by the planned trip.
“Such an action is extremely unhelpful and does not contribute to the peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea,” a spokeswoman said.
The U.S. “urges Taiwan and all claimants to lower tensions, rather than taking actions that could raise them,” she added.
Tensions have risen over the past two years as Beijing has embarked on a massive land reclamation program – turning sandbars into islands equipped with airfields, ports and lighthouses.
Earlier this month, Vietnam objected to China landing a plane on a man-made island in the Spratlys. Then last week, the two neighbors were involved in another terse exchange over China’s operation of an oil drilling rig in waters claimed by both countries.
How an oil rig sparked anti-China riots in Vietnam
New leader
President Ma’s visit comes barely a week after Taiwan elected its first female leader in a landslide election win.
China reacted with caution to the stunning victory by Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), with an editorial in the state-run Xinhua news agency stating that there was “no denying that the DPP’s return rule poses grave challenges to cross-strait relations.”
The incumbent Ma is considered friendly towards Beijing and met with China’s President Xi Jinping in November, the first talks between the leaders of the two side since the split in 1949.
A statement from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office quoted by Xinhua said it resolutely opposed “any form of secessionist activities seeking ‘Taiwan independence.’”
Meanwhile, the Central News Agency quoted DPP spokesman Yang Chia-liang as saying the party had turned down an invitation from President Ma’s office for President-elect Tsai to send an envoy on the trip.
Tsai will take office in May.