The South China Sea has long been considered as one of the "hotspots" where might erupt a military conflict in the Asian Pacific region. Since 2010, the tension of the South China Sea has further fuelled followed by the escalation of Sino-Vietnam sovereignty dispute and the U.S. engagement of this issue as a symbolic indicator of her "return to Asia." Though Taiwanese holds the Itu Aba, the largest and most tactically significant island, in the South China Sea, considering its irrelevance to defending Taiwan, the troops stationed there were withdrawn and a de-militarized approach was adopted in the late 1990s. Taiwan's government hopes to solve the South China Sea issues by multilateral diplomatic efforts. However, such an approach did not achieve Taiwan's expected results. Due to its isolation from international arena, Taiwan is absent from any possible forums among the countries concerned and become the most likely one to be ignored from the South China Sea dispute.
Relation:
Taiwan and the World: Political, Economic and Social Dynamism
