Sustainable Governance and Enduring Peace: An Exhibition Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Recovery of the South China Sea Islands, jointly organized by the Ministry of the Interior and Academia Historica, will open to the public on December 9.
The exhibition is being held to raise public understanding of Taiping Island and its history, as well as associated administrative measures taken by the government and the importance it attaches to South China Sea issues.
On December 12, 1946, the ROCS Taiping and ROCS Chungyeh arrived at Taiping Island, the largest of the Nansha Islands, carrying officials from the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of National Defense, as well as a Navy platoon, meteorologists, and supplies. Their arrival marked the completion of the recovery of the South China Sea Islands by the Republic of China. In the ensuing decades, related ROC government agencies built infrastructure on the islands and incorporated them into the nation’s administrative system, laying a solid foundation for the role that the ROC now plays in the South China Sea.
The exhibition, which focuses on the three themes of “Historical Developments,” “Key to the Southern Territories” and “Sustainable Peace,” features presentations of documents, artifacts, graphics, and audiovisuals so as to recreate the government’s important policy decisions and history of governance in recovering the South China Sea Islands.
The award made by the tribunal on July 12, 2016 in the arbitration brought by the Philippines under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea severely undermines the rights of the ROC over the South China Sea Islands and their relevant waters. Therefore, the exhibition showcases the rich natural and cultural aspects of Taiping Island, in the hope that the public can become reacquainted with the territory and better understand the achievements of the government’s many years of continued peaceful governance there.
President Tsai Ing-wen set out the tenor of the government’s policy in handling South China Sea issues on July 19 this year. As such, this exhibition will also display the relevant measures and projects undertaken by government agencies under the principles and measures specified by the president, including ecological conservation work, humanitarian assistance, and scientific research, thus highlighting the nature of future ROC policy on the South China Sea.
The exhibition runs from noon on Friday, December 9 to Monday, December 19, in the second floor exhibition room of Academia Historica (No. 2, Section 1, Changsha Street, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City). The exhibition will be free to the public, with opening hours subject to the hours and regulations of Academia Historica. All are welcome.
Guided tours will be provided on December 12, which marks the day that the ROCS Taiping and ROCS Chungyeh arrived at Taiping Island 70 years ago—an important historic moment in completing the recovery of the South China Sea Islands. Visitors on that day will also receive one set of Taiping Island postcards (limited to 300 sets).