Taiwan on Tuesday said that China's claim of Sovereignty over the Taiwan Strait is false and the only waters over which any country has full sovereignty are its 12-nautical mile territorial waters. While accusing Beijing of distorting international law, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokeswoman, Joanne Ou said that by ignoring Taipei's sovereignty claim over the Taiwan Strait and downgrading the strait to its own exclusive economic zone (EEZ), China revealed its ambition to annex Taiwan, Focus Taiwan reported.
Taiwan will continue to work with like-minded countries to jointly uphold rule-based international orders and promote peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, she added. She reiterated that Taiwan Strait consists of international waters, except for areas that can be defined as territorial waters.
"Our government has always respected any activities conducted by foreign vessels in the Taiwan Strait that are allowed by international law. We understand and support the freedom of navigation operations conducted by the US as these operations promote peace and stability in the region," Ou added. Ou's comments come as a response to her Chinese counterpart, Wang Wenbin, who claimed on Monday that waterway fell within China's territorial waters and exclusive economic zone as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and domestic law, Focus Taiwan reported.
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