Taiwanese think tank floats South China Sea base plan for US troops
Unnamed researchers call on Taipei to lease Taiping Island to the Pentagon as tensions rise in contested waters
A Taiwanese think tank has called on Taipei to lease part of a Taiwan-controlled islet to the US military, a highly explosive move certain to infuriate Beijing and escalate tensions in the South China Sea if realised.
The bold proposal by some experts of an unnamed pro-independence think tank calls for the Pentagon to set up a base on Taiping Island for humanitarian and rescue operations, according to local news media.
Taiping, the biggest islet in the Spratly chain, is technically controlled by Taiwan, though an international arbitration tribunal has ruled that it is merely a land formation over which no claimants are entitled to claim sovereignty.
Taiwan’s new facilities on Taiping Island may have military use
Citing an unnamed source, the Taiwan edition of Next Magazine reported on Monday that some researchers from the think tank suggested Washington could benefit from stationing troops on Taiping as it continued to face off with Beijing over the South China Sea.
Beijing has established military strongholds on artificial islands it has built in the waters, while Washington can only shore up its position by sending warships on patrols through the region, the source was quoted as saying.
The scholars said that leasing part of Taiping to the US military would not only allow the US to have a military base in the South China Sea but would also indirectly help Taiwan uphold its sovereignty over Taiping.
Taiping is also claimed by Beijing, Manila and Hanoi.