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Taiwan’s Spratlys outpost an island, not a rock, says Beijing

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman rebuts Philippines’ comments over disputed land in South China Sea

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Taiwan's then president, Ma Ying-jeou, visited Taiping Island in January to emphasise its sovereignty claims. Photo: AP

Beijing insisted on Friday that the small, Taiwan-controlled area of land known as Itu Aba in the South China Sea is an island – rebutting the Philippines’ attempt to describe the contested feature as a mere “rock” ahead of a ruling by an international tribunal.

Manila is challenging the legality of China’s claims to features in 2 million square kilometres of the South China Sea – in part by arguing that no reefs, atolls or islets in the Spratly archipelago can legally be considered islands, and therefore cannot bestow rights to a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

China’s claims are not weak
George Yeo

Mainland China and Taiwan split after the Nationalist government lost the civil war to the Communists in 1949 and retreated to Taiwan. While Beijing sees Taiwan as part of its territory, with a view to eventual reunification, it also inherited the Nationalist regime’s territorial claim in the South China Sea.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Friday that Chinese people living and working on Taiping Island – the Chinese name for Itu Aba – proved without doubt it was an “island” capable of sustaining human habitation and economic life by itself.

The Philippines’ attempt to characterise Taiping Island as a “rock” exposed its purpose of initiating the arbitration aimed at “denying China’s sovereignty over the Nansha (Spratly) Islands and relevant maritime rights and interests”, Hua said

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