Sunday Times 2
Taiwan urges talks to solve territorial dispute
View(s):PENGJIA ISLET, Taiwan, Sept 8 (AFP) – Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou has called for talks with China and Japan to solve a territorial dispute involving an archipelago in the East China Sea claimed by all three sides.
Ma made the comments while visiting a Taiwan-held islet about 140 kilometres (90 miles) west of the disputed islands known as Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese. “We could put aside the sovereignty disputes to study how to jointly manage the natural resources in the spirit of peace and cooperation,” Ma told reporters at Pengjia islet where he landed by military helicopter. Ma added that he has no immediate plans to visit the Diaoyu islands, which sparked a major row between China and Japan after activists from both sides sailed to the archipelago last month.
Japan arrested 14 activists who sailed to the island from Hong Kong, triggering protests by China and Taiwan, and moved swiftly to deport them. Days later, Japanese activists landed on one of the islands and raised a Japanese flag.
Japan’s government has agreed to buy some of the Diaoyu islands from Japanese landowners, reports said Wednesday, a further irritant in a tense relationship.
Ma reiterated Taipei’s claim to the islands and stressed that his government will not accept such a move.
“We do not recognise it in the first place so we are not bound by it,” he said. “We will not make any concession regarding our sovereignty of the Diaoyu islands.”
The chain, 2,000 kilometres from Tokyo, but less than 200 kilometres from Taiwan, lies on vital shipping lanes, and is believed to be near potentially rich gas fields.
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