TAIPEI – Taiwan’s president will propose a peace initiative on Tuesday to resolve territorial disputes in the South China Sea that have put Beijing at odds with its neighbors and with the United States, the official Central News Agency reported.
It said President Ma Ying-jeou’s plan would be along the lines of his 2012 proposal for the East China Sea, which called on claimants to temporarily shelve their disagreements to enable negotiations on resource-sharing.
Taiwan has so far played a marginal role in tackling the series of disputes between China and its neighbors in the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.
Under Ma’s plan, to be presented in a speech to a law forum, it will “actively participate in the relevant mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation to actively safeguard regional peace and development”, the news agency said.