Scarborough Shoal NOT Philippines’ says Taipei Times

Even Taipei journalists think that Scarborough Shoal is not a property of the Philippine Islands. Taiwan, considered by mainland China as one of its provinces, has proclaimed to the world in 1947 that it is the real government of all of China. In the past few years, it has continued to adhere to this claim. With mainland China being more powerful than the Taiwanese government, the people in these parts should be on the side of the Filipinos. However based on one Taiwanese reporter’s opinion, Scarborough Shoal is not a part of the Philippines but of China’s. This of course is understandable if one reads about the history of Taiwan and their claim of being the true Chinese seat of power based in their constitution drafted in the year 1946.

Cheng Hurng-yu of Taipei Times wrote a review of the published paper from the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) regarding its position on Bajo de Masinloc and the areas (waters to be more specific) within its vicinity. The paper contains legal arguments from the side of the Philippines to prove its claim on Scarborough Shoal.

Hurng-yu may have a point though because in the said paper, the Philippines abandoned its UN Convention on the Laws of the Seas argument –an argument it used for its claim for Spratly Islands-that same argument that mainland China is not willing to consider. Instead of referring to UNCLOS, the Philippine DFA argued that Scarborough Shoal is a part of the province of Zambales and has been in the Philippine Map since Spanish times. If one does his or her research however, the general map for Las Islas Filipinas first published in the year 1899 does not specify the island in dispute as an island belonging to the Philippines.