臺灣邀請外媒登南海太平島
As the C130 Hercules makes a bumpy landing on Taiwan-controlled Taiping island, a small tropical outcrop little longer than its 1.2km runway, mobile phones receive a text message from a Vietnamese network that says “Welcome to Vietnam”.
隨着C-130大力神運輸機(C-130 Hercules)有些顛簸地降落臺灣控制的太平島，手機收到了一條越南移動網絡發來的短信“歡迎來到越南”。這裏地處熱帶，是一個不比其上1.2公里的跑道長多少的海面突出地物。
In the geographical heart of the South China Sea, the location of one of the world’s most troubLing territorial disputes, nations are using what means they can to push their claims to this 0.5 sq km island, the largest natural feature in the southern Spratly chain.
在南中國海的地理中心，世界上最棘手的領土爭端之一發生的地方，各國正使出渾身解數強調自己對這個面積0.5平方公里的島嶼的主權聲索。它是斯普拉特利羣島（Spratly Islands，中國稱南沙羣島）最大的天然地物。
Vietnam is projecting its military-owned mobile phone network, while buying submarines and fighters from Russia to transform its attack capabilities. Mighty China is investing even more on its armed forces, buying hardware and building and fortifying its own artificial islands.
越南將其軍用移動電話網絡投射到這裏，同時從俄羅斯購買潛水艇和戰鬥機來提升其攻擊能力。強大的中國對其武裝力量的投入更大，它購買了硬件設施，修築了人工島並在加強人工島上的防禦工事。
The Philippines is pinning its hopes on the vagaries of international maritime law, bringing an arbitration case against Beijing.
菲律賓將希望寄託在變幻莫測的國際海洋法上，針對中國大陸提起了仲裁案。
But Taiwan, which cannot use international law because most countries do not recognise it as a sovereign state, is turning to more prosaic weapons to support its claim to Taiping and the potentially resource-rich sea around it: the availability of fresh water, free-roaming goats and bird faeces.
但臺灣無法利用國際法，因爲大多數國家並不承認它是一個主權國家。臺灣正訴諸於更平凡的武器來支持其對太平島及其周邊或蘊藏豐富資源的海域的聲索：你在島上可以找到淡水、自由漫步的山羊和鳥糞。
“From this layer of historical guano, you can see that our soil has the potential for agriculture and that means we can support human life,” says Wang Mao-Lin, commander of the Taiwanese coast guard unit that runs Taiping, as he shows around the first group of journalists allowed on the island.
“從這層鳥糞沉積層中，你可以看到我們的土壤有開展農業的潛力，這意味着我們可以維持人類的生活，”負責太平島的臺灣海岸警衛隊指揮官王茂林一邊帶着首批獲准上島的記者參觀一邊說。
That the fight over some of the world's most important waters, which contain rich fisheries, large potential oil and gas reserves and key global shipping routes, could be decided on such matters seems absurd.
圍繞這一世界上最重要水域之一的爭端可以由這些事情來決定，這看上去似乎有些荒謬。這塊水域包含豐富的漁業資源、巨大的油氣可能儲量，以及關鍵的國際航道。
But back in Taipei, outgoing President Ma Ying-jeou explains the importance of Taiping’s soil quality, livestock and groundwater that is “close to the quality of Evian”.
但在臺北，即將卸任的總統馬英九(Ma Ying-jeou)解釋了太平島土質、家畜和“接近依雲(Evian)水質”的地下水的重要性。
He says this is proof that Taiping can “sustain human habitation and economic life” and therefore should be considered an island under the UN convention on the law of the sea, granting it a 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone that includes the rights to exploit fishing grounds and hydrocarbons.
他表示，這證明太平島能夠“維持人類居住與經濟生活”，因此依據《聯合國海洋法公約》(UNCLOS)，應該被視爲一個島嶼，賦予其200海里的專屬經濟區，包括開發漁場和開採碳氫化合物的權利。
Taiwan has stepped up its efforts to show off Taiping, which lies 1,500km from Taiwan but only 500km from Vietnam and the Philippines, since the Philippines claimed last year during its arbitration case against China that it was just a “rock” that cannot support life and so should only generate 12 miles of territorial waters rather than the expansive economic zone.
去年，菲律賓在針對中國大陸的仲裁案中主張，太平島只是“岩礁”，無法維持生存，因此只能擁有12海里領海，不能擁有廣闊的專屬經濟區。自那以來，臺灣加大了炫耀太平島的努力，該島距離臺灣1500公里，距離越南和菲律賓只有500公里。
Over a lunch of locally grown coconuts, chicken and other Taiping ingredients, Bruce Linghu, Taiwan’s foreign minister, says his government must fight to influence public opinion because it is excluded from The Hague arbitration court hearing the Philippines case and other international bodies at the behest of China, which claims self-governing Taiwan is one of its provinces.
臺灣招待上島記者的午餐包括當地出產的椰子、雞肉和其他太平島物產，臺灣外交部次長令狐榮達(Bruce Linghu)在午餐期間表示，臺灣政府必須致力於影響公衆輿論，因爲在中國大陸的要求下，臺灣被審理菲律賓仲裁案的海牙仲裁法庭及其他國際機構排除在外。中國大陸方面稱，自治的臺灣是中國的一個省份。
Ian Storey, a fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, says one of the ironies of Taiwan’s position on Taiping is that it supports China’s increasingly assertive efforts to dominate the waters.
新加坡東南亞研究所(ISEAS)研究員伊恩•斯托裏(Ian Storey)表示，臺灣在太平島問題上的立場的一個諷刺之處在於，臺灣支持中國大陸越來越強硬的主導該海域的努力。
Beijing and Taipei make similar “U-shaped line” claims to almost the entire South China Sea, although China is using its growing military and economic power to enforce its interests, while Taiwan only occupies one island, using its coast guard rather than armed forces.
中國大陸和臺灣對幾乎整個南中國海提出了類似的“U型線”主張，不過中國大陸正利用其日益增長的軍事和經濟實力保證其利益，而臺灣只憑借海岸警衛隊（而非武裝力量）佔據着一個島。
“Taiwan has to be careful in the South China Sea because they don’t want to be viewed as China’s proxy and they don’t want to alienate the US or anger other Southeast Asian claimants who they want to trade with,” says Mr Storey.
斯托裏表示：“臺灣必須在南中國海保持謹慎，因爲他們不希望被視爲中國大陸的代表，也不希望疏遠美國或激怒臺灣願與之發展貿易、在該海域聲索主權的東南亞國家。”
After condemning what it calls China’s efforts to militarise these waters, the US government also criticised Mr Ma’s focus on Taiping, saying it is “extremely unhelpful” and urging Taiwan and all claimants to “lower tensions, rather than taking actions that could raise them”.
美國政府在譴責其所稱的中國軍事化南中國海的企圖後，還批評了馬英九對太平島的關注。美國表示馬英九的這種做法“極其沒有幫助”，並敦促臺灣以及所有主權聲索方“緩和緊張局勢，不要採取可能擴大緊張局勢的行動”。
Jonathan Spangler, director of the South China Sea think-tank in Taipei, says the fight over Taiping’s status has much wider implications because it is the biggest natural feature in the Spratlys and the only one with a serious claim to be an island in international law.
臺北南海智庫(South China Sea think-tank)負責人喬納森•斯潘格勒(Jonathan Spangler)表示，圍繞太平島地位的紛爭有着更廣泛的影響，因爲該島是斯普拉特利羣島的最大天然地物，也是唯一一個依據國際法被嚴肅主張爲島嶼的天然地物。
He points out that while China has built a much bigger air base on reclaimed land at nearby Fiery Cross Reef, such man-made features cannot generate an exclusive economic zone.
他指出，儘管中國大陸在附近的永暑礁(Fiery Cross Reef)通過填海造陸建起了大得多的空軍基地，但這種人造地物沒資格擁有專屬經濟區。
“If Taiping is officially an island and none of China’s occupied features are considered islands by international law, it could throw the whole focus of the South China Sea disputes back to cross-Strait relations,” he says.
他表示：“如果太平島被正式列爲島嶼，而中國大陸佔據的地物都未被國際法視爲島嶼，可能會讓南中國海爭端的整個焦點回到海峽兩岸關係上。”
