Taipei: The Republic of China (Taiwan) government on Sunday reaffirmed its sovereignty claim over islands in the South China Sea after the Philippines submitted its official nautical chart to the United Nations concerning an atoll claimed by Manila, Taipei, and Beijing. According to Focus Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) emphasized that any disputes in the South China Sea should be resolved peacefully in accordance with international law and the law of the sea. MOFA also insisted on Taiwan's inclusion in multilateral dispute settlement mechanisms. This statement follows Manila's submission of its official nautical chart of Scarborough Shoal to the U.N. last week to strengthen its claim over the atoll, situated approximately 220 kilometers from the west coast of central Luzon Island. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs stated the deposit was made under Article 16 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The Law of the Sea mandates coastal States to publici ze official charts or lists of geographical coordinates showing the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. The chart represented the outer limits of its 12-nautical-mile territorial sea and 24-nautical-mile contiguous zone around the shoal based on its baseline, aligned with the low water line along a coast. Scarborough Shoal, referred to as Huangyan Dao in China, Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines, and Democracy Reef in Taiwan, is subject to claims by all three governments. China's Foreign Ministry declared on Friday it would not accept the Philippines' establishment of baselines around Scarborough Shoal, describing the action as "illegal and invalid."
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