Taiwan’s foreign ministry has dismissed the Philippines’ objections to its drills off Taiping Island, saying it has a “right” to the live-fire exercises after Manila issued its “strong objection.”
“Our country has the right to conduct routine exercises on Taiping Island and related maritime areas. In order to ensure the safety of maritime traffic and fishing boats operating in adjacent maritime areas, we notify the relevant regional countries in advance before each live-fire drill,” the ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Manila expressed “strong objection over the unlawful live-fire drills to be conducted by Taiwan…on 28-29 June 2022 within the vicinity of Ligaw Island,” and emphasized that the island was “an integral part of the Kalayaan Island Group over which the Philippines has sovereignty.”
Manila warned that Taiwan’s “illegal activity raises tensions and complicates the situation in the South China Sea.”
Along with Taiwan and the Philippines, the island is also claimed by Vietnam, which calls it Ba Binh, and by Beijing, which also calls it Taiping, and which also considers Taiwan itself to be part of China. Taiwan set up a permanent presence on the island in 1956. The United States refers to the island as “Itu Aba” in official maps. Japan, which occupied the island between 1933 and 1945 and set up a submarine base there, calls the island Nagashima.
The disputed island is situated in the middle of the Spratly Islands archipelago – a large group of islands, islets, cays and reefs sprinkled across an area of 425,000 square kilometers, and contested by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Taiwan and the Philippines have no formal diplomatic relations, instead maintaining ties with the People’s Republic of China, but do enjoy strong economic links. They have repeatedly clashed over the Spratlys, as well as the Scarborough Shoal and the Batanes archipelagic province of the Philippines.
The dispute over control of the South China Sea and its island territories has been turned into a major potential geopolitical and military flashpoint between claimants, as well as the United States, which has no claims to the area, but has classified it as a “matter of US national interest.” China has repeatedly urged the US to butt out of the matter, and called on regional nations to complete negotiations on a long-planned dispute resolution mechanism being discussed since the early 2000s.