Asia-Pacific News

Vietnam protests Taiwan's Spratlys landing

Jan 24, 2008, 10:22 GMT

Hanoi - Vietnam strongly objected Thursday to the landing earlier this week of a Taiwanese military aircraft on one of the disputed Spratly Islands, a chain of atolls in the South China Sea claimed by six countries in the region.

'Vietnam resolutely opposes all acts violating the sovereignty of Vietnam over these two archipelagos,' government spokesman Le Dung told a press conference in Hanoi.

'Vietnam requests Chinese Taipei to stop immediately this action and to stop similar actions in the region,' he continued, referring to Taiwan.

A Taiwanese Air Force C-130 cargo plane reportedly landed Monday on an islet called Taiping, the largest of the Spratlys, before returning to Taiwan.

Taiwan has stationed troops on Taiping, and began building an airstrip there in mid-2006, over Vietnamese protests.

Vietnam, Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei each claim all or part of the Spratlys and the nearby Paracels, and all but Brunei have a military presence on one or more of the atolls.

The waters around the islands are believed to contain substantial petroleum reserves.

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-Ban, whose Democratic Progressive Party was badly beaten in parliamentary elections January 12, is reportedly planning a visit to the islands to assert Taiwan's claim before presidential elections in March.

Conflict over the islands began heating up in November, when China established a new government district, called Sansha, to administer them. Vietnam officially protested the Chinese move, and Vietnamese students staged rare spontaneous protests in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City asserting Vietnamese sovereignty.

At a meeting in Beijing on Wednesday, Vietnamese and Chinese officials resolved to handle the South China Sea dispute diplomatically.

© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur


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Taiwanese PatriotJan 24th, 2008 - 19:19:11

I'm sorry, but do Taiwan and China REALLY have a claim on the Spratly's? The islands seem so far away from Taiwan.

Isn't Taiwan's claim to the Spratly's due to Chiang Kai Shek's claim over all of China's former territory under the Qing Dynasty before they were invaded by Japan? Shouldn't Taiwan renounce claim of the Spratly's since that would be going against the 'Taiwan is independent' notion?

Any pro-independence people want to chime in on this, because I want to know more about the Spratly's issue from both points of view.

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americanized philipinsJan 25th, 2008 - 10:32:07

Just think of this way, two to three generations from now Spratly group of islands will become independent nation similar to Micronesia.

Look at how Labuan(Maida Is. from Japanese and Victoria for the British) a federal territory from Malaysia, get its status as 'offshore financial center'.

We can learn the lesson from Bermuda, Cayman and other offshore financial center which are originally uninhabited island and turned into city center full of economic activities with endless possibilies that could benefit its neighbors.

I hope this makes sense instead of flexing muscles of military of each claimnant countries in Spratly.

And may we call it as Commonwealth of Spratly.


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proindependentpersonFeb 2nd, 2008 - 15:27:04

If you argue those papers signed after WWII did not
hand the spratly islands to China, then you must
accept they did not give Taiwan to China either.

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