President Ma Proposes “East China Sea Peace Initiative”

President Ma Proposes “East China Sea Peace Initiative”

Sources: All Taipei newspapers

August 6, 2012

In a speech yesterday at a forum in commemoration of the 60^th anniversary of the Coming into Force of the Peace Treaty between the Republic of China (ROC) and Japan, President Ma Ying-jeou reiterated ROC sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Isles and proposed an “East China Sea peace initiative,” in the hope that all parties concerned would seriously deal with this territorial dispute as it could have an impact on peace and security in the East China Sea. He said that apart from recognizing the existence of the dispute, all parties concerned should make efforts to shelve disputes and seek peaceful means to settle the issue.

With regard to his “East China Sea peace initiative,” President Ma called on all parties concerned to shelve disputes and resolve the Diaoyutai issues through peaceful means. He stressed, “A country’s sovereignty cannot be divided, but natural resources can be shared.” He recommended that the countries concerned should together propose a “Code of Conduct in the East China Sea” in order to set up mechanisms of cooperation to develop natural resources in the East China Sea so that it would become a “sea of peace and cooperation.”

President Ma proposed five points in the peace initiative. (1) All parties concerned should show self-restraint so as not to escalate confrontational actions; (2) All parties concerned should shelve disputes and not give up on dialogues; (3) All parties concerned should abide by international law and handle disputes using peaceful means; (4) All parties concerned should seek a consensus and conclude a “Code of Conduct in the East China Sea;” (5) All parties concerned should establish mechanisms to cooperate in developing natural resources in the East China Sea.

President Ma pointed out that the ROC and Japan signed the Peace Treaty in 1952, seven and a half hours before the San Francisco Peace Treaty became effective. In the ROC-Japan Peace Treaty, Article 2 stipulated that “Japan renounced all rights, title, and claim to Taiwan (Formosa) and Penghu (the Pescadores) as well as the Spratley Islands and the Paracel Islands,” and Article 4 confirmed that “all treaties, conventions, and agreements concluded before 9 December 1941 between Japan and China have become null and void as a consequence of the war.”

President Ma stated that since the Diaoyutai Isles were Taiwan's affiliated islands, they were, of course, returned along with Taiwan to the ROC, adding that the Diaoyutai Isles were currently under Yilan County’s administrative jurisdiction. He stressed that the ROC-Japan Peace Treaty was unilaterally abrogated by Japan after it established formal diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China in 1972, but this abrogation did not affect the legal effects created as a result of the coming into force of the ROC-Japan Treaty because “the legal effects of a treaty cannot be changed after it came into force.”

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