Taiwanese minister makes rare visit to disputed South China Sea island

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - TAIPEI — A Taiwanese minister has made a rare visit to a Taiwan-controlled island in the South China Sea to observe coast guard exercises that included armed boarding of a suspicious ship, as tensions flare in the region.

Taiwan and China claim sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, and Taiwan has control of Itu Aba in the contested Spratly Islands in the southern part of the sea.

In a statement late on Wednesday, Taiwan's coast guard said Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling had visited Itu Aba, which it calls ⁠Taiping Island, the previous day for a "humanitarian relief, medical evacuation, and marine pollution removal" exercise.

Taiwan's official Central News Agency said it was the first time in seven years a minister had visited Itu Aba, which is also claimed by China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

In one part of the drill, coast guard special forces armed with guns practised boarding a suspicious cargo ship that had refused to respond to hails.

"In order to safeguard the nation's rights and national security, the cargo vessel was escorted back to Taiping Island for further investigation," the coast guard said.

It shared video footage of the special forces, clad in black and heavily armed, entering the control room of the ship.
"You have ‌entered the ⁠waters under the jurisdiction of our country. Please cooperate with the investigation," one of the team tells a crew member.

Itu Aba has a runway long enough to take military re-supply flights from Taiwan, and Taiwan opened a new wharf there in 2023 able to accommodate a 4,000-ton patrol ship.

But the island is lightly defended compared to nearby Chinese-controlled islands. Chinese forces generally leave Itu Aba ⁠alone.

Beijing has carried out extensive land reclamation on the South China Sea islets and outcrops it controls, building major air force and other military facilities, fuelling concern in Washington and around the region where Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam also claim parts of ⁠the sea.

China says it has every right to build on and defend what it considers to be its territory.

Taiwan also controls the Pratas Islands in the northern part of the South China Sea. China's air force and navy ⁠regularly operate nearby to assert Beijing's territorial claims over Taiwan, which the government in Taipei rejects.

Kuan's visit to Itu Aba comes as US and Filipino forces hold their largest ever military drills across the Philippines, drawing anger from China.

As the US-Philippines drills were ongoing, China dispatched a new amphibious warship to the South China Sea and sailed one of its aircraft carriers in the nearby Taiwan Strait.

A ruling by an international tribunal in 2016 classified Itu Aba Island as a "rock" under the United Nations' Convention on the Law of the Sea, which gives Taiwan rights to resources for only 12 nautical miles around it – in contrast to 200 nautical miles, if it were deemed an "island".

Taiwan and China have rejected the ruling and refused to recognise the arbitration case that was brought by the Philippines.

The South China Sea is a key shipping route through which billions of dollars in trade passes every year, and an important fishing ground. It is also thought to hold substantial energy reserves. — Agencies