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Abstract
The South China Sea is an area of disputes on sovereignty and resource jurisdiction claims. As one of the six claimants, the Republic of China (Taiwan) has played an important role not only because it is the originator of the U-shaped lines, but also it has continuously occupied the largest island, Tai-Ping-Dao, in the Spratlys. This article reviews the ROC's position on the issues through an exploration of its maritime claims to the territorial sea, continental shelf, and exclusive economic zone.
Notes
1. For convenience, Taiwan will be used in reference to the Republic of China (ROC) and China will be used for the People's Republic of China (PRC).
2. See Yann-Huei Song, “Cross-Strait Interactions on the South China Sea Issues: A Need for CBMs,” Marine Policy 29 (2005): 265–280; Zou Keyuan, “Maritime Boundary Delimitation in the Gulf of Tonkin,” Ocean Development and International Law 30 (1999): 235–254; Yann-Huei Song and Zou Keyuan, “Maritime Legislation of Mainland China and Taiwan: Developments, Comparison, Implications, and Potential Challenges for the United States,” Ocean Development and International Law 31 (2000): 303–345; Zou Keyuan, “Historic Rights in International Law and in China's Practice,” Ocean Development and International Law 32 (2001): 149–168; Peter Kien-Hong Yu, “The Chinese (Broken) U-shaped Line in the South China Sea: Points, Lines, and Zones,” Contemporary Southeast Asia 25 (2003): 405–430; Li Jinming and Li Dexia, “The Dotted Line on the Chinese Map of the South China Sea: A Note,” Ocean Development and International Law 34 (2003): 287–295; Peter Kien-Hong Yu, “Setting Up International (Adversary) Regimes in the South China Sea: Analyzing the Obstacles from a Chinese Perspective,” Ocean Development and International Law 38 (2007): 147–156; Nguyen Hong Thao and Ramses Amer, “Managing Vietnam's Maritime Boundary Disputes,” Ocean Development and International Law 38 (2007): 305–324.
3. Cited in Hwang Kang (
), The Republic of China's Territorial Sea and Its Related System (Jong-hwa-ming-gwo De Ling-hai Ji-jyh Shiang-guan Jyh-duh
) (Taipei, Taiwan: Commercial Press, 1973), 50.
4. Shih-Hao Lee and Juo-Tsian Chu (
), History of Chinese Fishery (Jong-gwo Yu-yeh-shyy
) (Taipei, Taiwan: Taiwan Shan-Wu, 1970), 188–209.
5. See Conference for the Codification of International Law, Hague 1930, Final Act, Report of the Second Committee (Territorial Sea), reprinted in American Journal of International Law 24, Suppl. (1930): 234–235, 254; and Green Haywood Hackworth, Digest of International Law, Vol. 1 (Washington, DC: Department of State Publications, 1940), 628. See also C. J. Colombos, International Law of the Sea, 6th rev. ed. (London: Longmans, 1967), 99; and Y. L. Wu, ed., China—A Handbook: Theory and Practice of International Law with Respect to Selected Issues (New York: Praeger, 1973), 400.
6. See, generally, Final Act, supra note 5, at 234–247.
7. Ministry of Transportation and Communication, Decree No. 1612 of 20 April 1931. Gazette of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (Jiau-tong-bu Gong-bao
), No. 244 (9 May 1931), 1–2.
8. United States, Executive Order 9633 of 28 September 1945, 10 Fed. Reg. 12303, 59 U.S. Stat. 884.
9. Although the PRC was established in 1949, the ROC retained its membership status in the United Nations and other related organizations until 1971.
10. See Yearbook of the International Law Commission, Vol. 1 (1952), 153, para. 80; 158, para. 54; and Vol. 1 (1955), 154, para. 61; 172–173, para. 15; 186, para. 43.
11. The Executive Yuan is the highest administrative organ of the ROC Government and is led by the premier.
12. Joseph W. Dellapenna and A. Y. Wang, “The Republic of China's Claims Relating to the Territorial Sea, Continental Shelf, and Exclusive Economic Zones: Legal and Economic Aspects,” Boston College International and Comparative Law Review 3 (1980): 357.
13. Philippine Presidential Decree No. 1599 of 11 June 1978 establishing an Exclusive Economic Zone and for other purposes available at www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/PHL_1978_Decree.pdf (accessed 18 March 2010).
14. Documents released at the Government Information Office Press Conference, 6 September 1979.
15. The Presidential Decree can be found in the Gazette of the Presidential Office (Tzoong-toong-fuu Gong-bao or 
), No. 3575, 10 October 1979, 2. The Decree was issued with a document code (68)Tai-Tung(1)I-Tze No. 5046 
.
16. K. O. Emory, et al., “Geological Structure and Some Water Characteristics of the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea,” Technical Bulletin, Technical Advisory Group Report, Vol. 2 (1969); and see infra note 21.
17. See “Report of the International Law Commission to the General Assembly,” in Yearbook of the International Law Commission, Vol. 11 (1956), 254–301.
18. “Our Fishing Industry's Recommendation on the Law of the Sea (
),” Yu-Yo (
), No. 74 (August 1957), 13.
19. See UN Doc. A/CONF.13/5/Add 2, 29 January 1958, available at untreaty.un.org/cod/diplomaticconferences/lawofthesea-1958/docs/english/vol_I/8_A-CONF-13-5_PrepDocs_vol_I_e.pdf (accessed 19 March 2010).
20. Continental Shelf Convention, 499 U.N.T.S. 311.
21. Emory, supra note 16, at 39–41.
22. Reproduced in Hungdah Chiu, “Chinese Contemporary Practice and Judicial Decisions Relating to International Law, 1968–1970,” Annuals of the Chinese Society of International Law 7 (1970): 84.
23. Gazette of the Legislative Yuan (
) 59, No. 64, 22 August 1970, 3.
24. For a more recent declaration made by the ROC Government concerning its position on the status of Tiao-Yu-Tai as well as the natural prolongation of continental shelf in the East China Sea area, see “Declaration of the Republic of China on the Outer Limits of Its Continental Shelf”, 12 May 2009, available at www.mofa.gov.tw/webapp/ct.asp?xItem=38077&ctNode=1901&mp=6 (accessed 12 March 2010).
25. Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “The Basic View on the Sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands,” available at www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/senkaku/senkaku.html (accessed 16 March 2010).
Convention of Armistice Between Japan and China, 30 March 1895, reproduced in Clive Parry, ed., Consolidated Treaty Series, 1648–1918 (Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana, 1969), 198–199.
26. Hungdah Chiu, Chinese Attitude Toward Continental Shelf and Its Implication on Delimiting Seabed in Southeast Asia (Baltimore: School of Law, University of Maryland, 1977), 9–10.
27. China Daily News (Jong-Gwo-Shyr-Bao or 
), 7 September 1979, 3.
28. Japan declared its EEZ in 1996. See Law of the Sea Bulletin, No. 35 (1997), 78. Prior to this, Japan had claimed a 200-nautical-mile fishing zone.
29. Pen-Chia-Yu is an island located in the northeast sea area of Taiwan. The sea area around that island provides an excellent fishing ground. The Taiwanese Navy had expelled those Japanese fishing vessels. See United Daily News, 20 September 1984, 5.
30. Taiwan Daily News, 10 September 1989, 2.
31. The Yalu River is the border river between China and North Korea.
32. The Peilun River is the border river between China and Vietnam.
33. Presidential Decree, 21 January 1998, with document code (87) Hwa-Tzoong(1)I-Tze No. 8700010340 
.
34. Presidential Decree, 21 January 1998, with document code (87) Hwa-Tzoong(1)I-Tze No. 8700010350 
.
35. See Executive Yuan Gazette, Vol. 5, No. 6, 10 February 1999, 36–37. For an English translation, see United States, Department of State, Limits in the Seas, No. 127, “Taiwan's Maritime Claims,” 15 November 2005, Annex 2.
36. Limits in the Seas, ibid.
37. Pao-Min Chang, “A New Scramble for the South China Sea Islands,” Contemporary Southeast Asia 12, no. 4 (1990): 22.
38. Government Information Office, ROC, “The Republic of China's Sovereignty over the Spratly Islands,” Reference: ROC on Taiwan, No. RR-93–02, 30 April 1993, 2.
39. Ibid.
40. Chang, supra note 37, at 22.
41. Ibid.
42. Treaty of Peace Between the Republic of China and Japan, 1858 U.N.T.S. 38–44, art. II. See Gerardo M. C. Valero, “Spratly Archipelago Dispute: Is the Question of Sovereignty Still Relevant?” Marine Policy 18 (1994): 319.
43. Hungdah Chiu and Choon-ho Park, “Legal Status of the Paracel and Spratly Islands,” Ocean Development and International Law 3 (1975): 14.
44. United Daily News, 24 May 1956, 1; and 25 May 1956, 1.
45. Central Daily News, 2 December 1992, 4. Itu Aba Island is 1,358 meters long and 350 meters wide, the total area is about 0.5 square kilometers.
46. United Daily News, 6 February 1990, 4.
47. United Daily News, 28 January 2000, 8.
48. “Policy Guidelines for the South China Sea (Nan-Hai Jeng-Tseh Gang-Liing or 
),” 13 April 1993. An unofficial English translation can be found in Kuan-Ming Sun, “Policy of the Republic of China Towards the South China Sea: Recent Developments,” Marine Policy 19 (1995): 408.
49. Statement made by the ROC MOFA on 10 June 1997, available at www.mofa.gov.tw.
50. Statement made by the ROC MOFA on 13 June 1997, available at www.mofa.gov.tw.
51. Statement made by the ROC MOFA on 1 July 1999, available at www.mofa.gov.tw.
52. Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, 4 November 2002, available at the Web site of ASEAN at www.aseansec.org/13163.htm (accessed 19 July 2009); and as an appendix to Nguyen Hong Thao, “The 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea: A Note” Ocean Development and International Law 34 (2003): 282–285.
53. Statement made by the ROC MOFA on 5 November 2002, available at www.mofa.gov.tw.
54. Press Release, the ROC MOFA, 20 November 2007, available at www.mofa.gov.tw.
55. Press Release, the ROC MOFA, 15 August 2008, available at www.mofa.gov.tw.
56. The Philippines, Republic Act No. 9522, An Act to Amend Certain Provisions of Republic Act No. 3046, as amended by Republic Act No. 5466, to Define the Archipelagic Baselines of the Philippines, and for Other Purposes, approved 10 March 2009, available at the Web site of the Philippine Law and Jurisprudence Database at www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2009/ra_9522_2009.html (accessed 8 August 2009). See also the Philippines, “PGMA Signs Baselines Bill into Law,” 11 March 2009, available at the official Government portal of the Philippines at www.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21961&itemid=2 (accessed 8 August 2009).
57. Statement made by the ROC MOFA, 6 February 2009, available at www.mofa.gov.tw.
58. Malaysia-Vietnam Joint Submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf pursuant to Article 76, paragraph 8, of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (1833 U.N.T.S. 397) in Respect of the Southern Part of the South China Sea, Executive Summary, May 2009, available at the Web site of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf at www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/clcs_home.htm.
59. Vietnam Submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf pursuant to Article 76, paragraph 8, of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, Partial Submission in Respect of Vietnam's Extended Continental Shelf: North Area (VNM-N), Executive Summary, April 2009, available at the Web site of the Commission, supra note 58.
60. Statement made by the ROC MOFA, 11 May 2009, available at www.mofa.gov.tw.
61. Chinese text version, available at www.mofa.gov.tw, translated by the author.
62. People's Republic of China, Letter to Secretary-General of the United Nations, Doc. CML/17/2009, New York, 7 May 2009; and Letter to Secretary-General of the United Nations, Doc. CML/18/2009, New York, 7 May 2009, available at the Web site of the Commission, supra note 58 (accessed 19 July 2009).
63. A median line is defined as every point of the line is equidistant from the nearest points on the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial seas of each of the two States is measured.
64. The maritime boundary delimitation is still a disputed issue between the Philippines and Malaysia. See Jonathan I. Charney, “Central East Asian Maritime Boundaries and the Law of the Sea,” American Journal of International Law 89 (1995): 724–726.
65. LOS Convention, supra note 58, arts. 5 and 7.
66. “The First Part of the Baselines of the Territorial Sea,” supra note 36.
67. See, for example, supra notes 48, 51, 53, 55, 57, 60, and 61.
68. Robin Churchill and A. V. Lowe, The Law of the Sea, 3rd ed. (Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1999), 61.
69. Kuen-Chen Fu, A Study on the Legal Status of the ROC's Historic Waters in the South China Sea (
) (Taipei, Taiwan: Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, Executive Yuan, 1992), 16–17.