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Renounce South China Sea? Is the DPP Out of Its Mind? (A Commentary)
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 2015/05/22
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A Commentary
Renounce South China Sea? Is the DPP Out of Its Mind?
Source: Taipei-based China Times May 22, 2015
Michael Gau (高聖惕), a professor at National Taiwan Ocean University’s Institute of the Law of the Sea, and Wang Kuan-hsiung (王冠雄), a political science professor at National Taiwan Normal University, contributed an article titled “Renounce South China Sea? Is the DPP Out of Its Mind? （放棄南海？ 民進黨瘋了嗎？）” to the Taipei-based China Times on May 22.
The authors wrote that the DPP had told the US that it would consider giving up sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea, if the DPP returned to power.
【Editor’s Note: During an interview with the Voice of America last September, two former deputy secretaries-general of Taiwan's National Security Council, Parris Chang (張旭成) and Ko Cheng-heng (柯承亨) stated that the DPP would consider renouncing sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea, if the DPP returned to power.】
The authors wrote that in 1935, the National Government of the Republic of China (ROC) published “Maps of the Chinese Islands in the South China Sea (中國南海各島嶼圖)” and “Chinese-English Terms for the Chinese Islands in the South China Sea (中國南海各島嶼華英名對照表)” incorporating all the islands and reefs with four groups of islands into the territories of the Republic of China. After Japan surrendered in WWII, the islands in the South China Sea were returned to the ROC. In 1947, the ROC government published the “Location Map of the Islands in the South China Sea (南海諸島位置圖)” and “Comparison Table for New/Old Names for Islands in the South China Sea (南海諸島新舊名稱對照表)”, reiterating the ROC’s sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea. After the KMT government relocated to Taiwan, it continued to assert sovereignty over the islands.
The authors wrote that if the DPP decided to renounce the ROC’s sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea, if it returned to power, it would seriously undermine the interests of the ROC in three ways. 1. It would renounce our claim of sovereignty over the currently unoccupied islands and reefs in the South China Sea. 2. It would renounce our sovereignty over the waters surrounding the islands and reefs, our rights derived from sovereignty and jurisdiction. 3. It would give up the U-shaped line as our assertion for the boundary of existing territory.
The authors wrote that normally a country was forced to renounce sovereignty only when it was defeated in war or after a series of negotiations. The adjacent countries near the waters in the South China Sea have refused to negotiate with Taiwan. The DPP is apparently willing to surrender without a fight or any negotiations. Should any Presidential candidate make such advocacy as his/her campaign plank, he/she should be denounced by our citizens.
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