Islands in a Steam

Taiwan's dollar diplomacy in the South Seas is really part of a much larger pattern of cowboy activity that annoys lots of places that might otherwise be its friend. For example, there's cowboy fishing, which has been provoking Greenpeace lately,

GREENPEACE activists clashed with a Taiwanese long-line fishing boat in the Pacific Ocean today, painting the word "pirates'' on the side of the vessel and raiding its lines.

Greenpeace accused the vessel of hunting down precious marine species - including an endangered turtle - in international waters north-east of the Solomon Islands, which the green group wants declared as reserves.

According to Greenpeace, activists confronted the long-line vessel, called the Ho Tsai Fa 18, and began to free the fish, sharks and endangered turtle caught on its hooks.

They then took one of the vessel's radio beacons and a fishing line.

Activists claimed they won the battle, with the vessel agreeing to release the marine life and leave the area.

Greenpeace, politicians, and community leaders want to create marine reserves in those areas. One blogger in the Marianas commented:

Rescind your resolution against the proposed national marine park. I am dumbfounded at how our leaders could so quickly and recklessly come up with a resolution that slams the idea of a national marine monument for the CNMI. What I want to know is if it is really true that the resolution was written by a WESPAC lobbyist. Do you truly understand the ramifications of your resolution? Have you exhausted all efforts in understanding the pros and cons of the marine monument? Since when was conservation a bad thing? Why do you buy into propaganda and sensationalism? As far as our local fishermen are concerned, how many of our local fishermen travel three hundred-plus miles to go fishing? It is not economically feasible, especially given the high cost of fuel! (Maybe the legislators figure the fishermen will swim up and back.) Do you know who is fishing those waters right now? Illegal commercial fishing companies from Korea and Taiwan! And as we speak, the CNMI cannot do anything about it right now! Stop listening to lies and start listening to the voice of reason. I ask that you revisit your resolution and rescind it. There is nothing wrong with changing your mind if it means you are changing your mind for the right reasons.

In a region where Taiwan might be quietly building relationships as a counterweight to China, instead, the island is peeving its neighbors, with cowboy visits as Vietnam protests a planned ROC government official visit to the Spratlys:

Vietnam's government has asked Taiwan to call off a planned inspection tour of the disputed Spratly Islands, one of two archipelagos in the South China sea claimed by several countries in the region, local press reported Tuesday. "Vietnam resolutely objects to all activities violating its sovereignty over the two archipelagos," government spokesman Le Dung said.

Taiwanese Defence Minister Tsai Ming-hsien was scheduled to visit the Spratlys on Monday before postponing the trip due to bad weather.

Vietnam, Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei each claim all or part of the Spratlys and the nearby Paracels, and all but Brunei have a military presence on one or more of the atolls. Taiwan has built an airstrip on the largest of the islands, while Vietnam has stationed sailors on another.

The waters around the islands are believed to contain substantial petroleum reserves.

Conflict over the islands began heating up in November, when China established a new government district, called Sansha, to administer them. Vietnam officially protested the Chinese move, and Vietnamese students staged rare spontaneous protests in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City asserting Vietnamese sovereignty.

Apparently there were complaints from Philippine politicians as well, though nothing formal. And speaking of islands, how about Papua New Guinea? Our $30 million diplomatic scandal is news down there too as PNG claims They Never Knew:

PNG’s foreign affairs secretary Gabriel Pepson said yesterday that the Government was not aware of a secret offer, adding “we are all surprised at the media reports”.

He reiterated that PNG pursues the One-China policy, which recognises the sovereignty of mainland China over Taiwan.

Mr Pepson said PNG knew nothing about the secret offer, either at the official or political level.

The offer was revealed after Taiwan launched court proceedings in Singapore to recover the money given to two men to offer to their contacts in PNG.

The offer was abandoned after it was discovered that the PNG contacts did not represent the government. This happened in December 2006. But the two men did not return the money to Taiwan.

and of course, the 'request' by PNG officials to deposit the $$ in the Singapore account as a mark of sincerity was a scam:

The Straits Times newspaper in Singapore said at the weekend that unnamed representatives from PNG had in October 2006 asked for that amount – “intended as technical assistance” – to be transferred to an account in Singapore, as the condition for a switch of diplomatic recognition.

It later emerged that the PNG representatives were not officials but agents who had obtained letters from government officials.

However, in a Strait where the status of the islands isn't an issue, Taiwan and China can somehow bridge all that horrible tension generated by the crazed and provocative Chen Shui-bian, and begin oil exploration together in the waters off Taiwan:

Taiwan's state-run oil firm CPC Corp and China's CNOOC Ltd are set to resume joint exploration in the Taiwan Strait, after putting a venture on hold for more than a year now, the Economic Daily News reported, citing CPC Chairman Pan Wen-yen.

Perhaps that will enable to Taiwan to get in on the joint oil exploration in the Spratlys currently underway between China, Philippines, Vietnam, and a US oil firm....

[Taiwan]