US criticizes planned island visit by Taiwan president

Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims.

The incoming party leans toward independence for Taiwan, which Beijing claims to be part of China.

He said the objective of the trip was to visit Taiwanese personnel based there, ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

“Such an action is extremely unhelpful and does not contribute to the peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea”, she said. Ma’s visit is part of that effort.

REUTERS/U.S. Navy/Handout via ReutersChinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy May 21, 2015. The photos also showed Taiwan’s infrastructure on the island, including the new wharf and lighthouse as well as the pre-existing airstrip, hospital, and administration building.

Taiwan claims the island – which it calls Taiping but is also known as Itu Aba – in the Spratly archipelago, a chain also claimed by China and other neighbours.

China considers Taiwan a wayward province to be brought under its control, by force if necessary. Academia Sinica researcher Song Yann-huei told The China Post that the timing of Ma’s visit to the island was “pressing” and came earlier than expected.

In 2014, China began a massive reclamation project in the Sea, adding around 3,000 acres of artificial land and turning what were mere rocks barely above water at low tide into artificial islands large enough to host runways long enough to accommodate high-performance jet aircraft and naval docking.

The Philippines and Vietnam have complained that China is becoming increasingly aggressive in the region. “Safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as safeguarding the overall interests of the Chinese nation is the common responsibility and obligation of compatriots across the straits”, Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office, told reporters. Kerry said in Beijing Wednesday that the US remains committed to the One China principle.

The Nationalists fled to Taiwan in 1949 after being defeated in a civil war with China’s Communists. Taiwan still publicized the visit as an indication of Taiwan’s sovereignty over the disputed island, and of Itu Aba’s status as an island.

News of President Ma’s visit comes barely a week after Taiwan elected its first female leader in a landslide election win.

About 180 people live on the island which saw its last presidential visit in 2008, a lot of them coastguard personnel.