TAlPEl, Taiwan, JulY 20, (Agencies):
As China builds artilicial islands in a
vast resource-rich South China Sea
and nerqhbors in Southeast Asia
brace foi possLble conflct. Taiwan is
cutunq carbon emissions and offering
a hos-pilalfor humanitarian aid on the
sea's Iarqest natural islet to seek
international approval ior easing tension.
Taiwan's unusual use oi Taiping
lsland in the heavilY contested
Spratly archipelago may appeal particularlv
to the unlted Stales, a
staunch, lonq-trme iniormal ally that
has at least sarutinized the leqalbasis for Taiwan's maritime clairns
Washrnqton, seekinq stable relations
wrth China as well, has also urged the
six claimants to cooperate ratherthan
fiq-That.lwan, which lacks the diplomatlc
ties to neqoiiate with the other tive
oovernmeits with claims ln the South
ehina Sea, has installed $1.29 million
wodh of solar Panels on lalplng
lsland since 2011 to lighl a cluster ot
buildin0s and provide power lor constructio-
n of a 200-meter (yard) pier
due ior completlon bY Yeaas end, the
head of the island's coast guard sald
Fridav.
Pahels coverinq 1,570 square
meters (16,890 square feet). enough
to save about 32,000liters (8,450 gallons)
of diesel iuel last year, also will
supplv electricity to a live'bed hospF
tal and livinq quarters that accept
seaiarers of anv nationaltY, Coast
Guafd Administration Minister Wang
Chung-yi said.
Taioino receives about 10 foreign
boals a iear from China or Vietnam,
usually during storms. The pier will
makq it easier for coast guaro vessels
or - il needed someday - naval
ships to dock, allowing more medical
sdpolies to reach the five-bed hospF
tal ivth a rotating statf as well as a
suroerv ward. Taiwan also hac Duttt a
milit-ary7 airstrip on the coast guardcontrolled
lsland.
"No one is in opposition The
United States approves," Wang said
'When the situation gets tense, our
countru's stance is to take a novel
approich. Can'l we pul aside the disoute?
Taipinq lsland has solar power
bnd qreeh enerov that are telling the
worlri-we have a iiifferent perspective
on ooeratinq it.'
Taiwan's aeslqn lor its 1,4oo-rneter
(4,590joot) lon-g, 400'meter (1,312-
foot) -wrde islet contrasts to the camoaions
bv China and Vieham to landiill
irultiole islets, build military bases
and drive oil rios into the ocean lloor
near the Sprauv and Paracel archioelaoos.
chrnd had added some
2.OOd acres i809 hectares) of land in
tiie Spratly chain since last year, U.S.
ofiicials said.
Taiwan expects olher countries,
esoeciallv the United States. to
redoect ifs eftorls, which tollow the
May 26 announcement ot a south
china sea peace and resource-snaring
initiative by President l\,1a Yingj"
oin"
r.u m ttion-square-kIometer
{1.4 million-square-mile) sea is rich in
iisherles, subports about half the
world's commercial shipping and
holds an estimated 7 billion barrels ol
oil reseryes. Brunei and Malaysia
claim parts of the same ocean.
ln sions of orowino tension, the
Philippines re6pened Subic BaY
naval base this year and held military
exerclses with the United States and
Japan to helP counter any threats
trom China. Manila has also filed for
arbikation in a United Nations court.
Last vear, Vietnam and China
clashed overChinas placementof an
oil riq in waters that both sides claam,
touching off deadly anti-Chinese riots
in Vielnam.
Also:
TAIPEI; china and Taiwan inked a
landmalk deal on Monday that will
see water pumped from the Chinese
mainland io a Taiwanese-controlled
archipelago, in another sign of warminq
ties between the nvals.
Jhe aqreement will see water
pumped irom China's southeastern
brovince of Fujian to the 100,000 residents
of Taiwan s Kinmen County by
2017.
''fhe event is of historical significance
when ii comes to forging a
path toward Peaceful relations
betlveen the hvo sides," Kinmen
county magistrate Chen Fu'hai said
at the sianinq ceremony
The h;av-v lortifred Kinmen archioelaqo
is iusttwo kilometres from the
inain'iand and was heavrly shelled by
Chinese forces in the late 1950s during
a 44-day assaull that killed 618
people.
