Taiwan’s Policy towards the South China Sea
79peaceful resolution insignificant. In other words, Taiwan’s efforts to act as
a sovereign entity would be severely jeopardized.
The supporters of cooperation see South China Sea cooperation as an
opportunity for confidence building measures between Taipei and Beijing.
At the same time, they believe that, since their claims overlap, Taiwan and
the PRC should cooperate to ensure that all the territories remain in
Chinese hands.
So far, Taiwan has approached Beijing’s suggestions for cooperation
with reluctance. One reason for this stance is the ambiguity of China’s
overtures–on the one hand, Beijing seems to be offering cooperation, on
the other hand, it harshly prevents Taiwan from participating in regional
confidence building measures, such as the Code of Conduct. Also,
bilateral cooperation would eventually be to Taiwan’s detriment–Taipei
would certainly negotiate from a weak position. Multilateral fora, to which
Taiwan unfortunately has no access, can better protect the claimants from
China’s pressure–it is for this reason that Taipei exerts itself in an attempt
to join some of these mechanisms and frameworks.
Last but not least, hypothetical cooperation between the PRC and
Taiwan in the South China Sea, particularly at the military level, would
definitely not be welcomed by the U.S. Washington supplies most of the
high-tech equipment to Taiwan while the PRC is still seen, to some extent,
as potential adversary of the United States. Through former Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton, President Obama made it clear that the U.S.
disagrees with China’s 9-dash line claim and would rather secure freedom
of navigation for everyone in the South China Sea.
Taiwan has so far acted with self-restraint, carefully balancing between
China and the other claimants, refusing to take sides. Dealing with other
actors in the South China Sea is complicated–cooperation is difficult or
impossible due to Taiwan’s disputed international status. At the same
time, Beijing, given its One China policy, could see Taiwan’s push for
cooperation with other regional actors as a move towards independence
and a betrayal of Chinese interests in the South China Sea.
Conclusion
Taiwan employs a careful approach to the South China Sea–without
provoking any of the claimants. At the same time, Taipei continues to urge
all parties to the territorial dispute to use peaceful means and approach the
South China Sea as a commons.
Taiwan’s approach can be explained by its awareness of its
shortcomings. While its control over some parts of the South China Sea so