ABSTRACT
Taiwan claims sovereignty over both the Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, but it is also the only claimant being excluded from the international dialogue mechanisms aiming at resolving the dispute. Taiwan's involvement in the region can be traced back to the 1940s. In October 1946, the Republic of China (ROC) government in Nanjing sent a naval fleet to the South China Sea to "recover" the territories occupied by the Japanese during World War II. In terms of the legal status of the South China Sea and affiliated islands, the Kuomintang (KMT) administration largely maintains the position of previous administrations in that all the islands, sandbanks, reefs as well as their surrounding waters are an inherent part of the territory of the ROC. When the KMT returned to power after the presidential election of 2008, it adopted a new strategy toward the South China Sea by exploring the possibilities of cooperation with Beijing.
