Taiwan president visits small island in show of sovereignty

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou visited a small island in the East China Sea on Saturday to reassert Taiwan’s sovereignty and its role in the contested region, one of the key issues of his tenure, which ends next month.

台湾领导人马英九本星期六（4月9日）将访问位于东海的一个小岛，重申台湾的领土主权，以及其在此争议地区的角色——这是马英九任期内的关键问题，他的任期将于下月结束。

Ma’s visit to Pengjia, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of Taiwan proper, was his administration’s second propaganda trip to an island. It came four years after Ma last visited Pengjia to propose a plan to address territorial disputes among China, Taiwan and Japan over the nearby chain known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyutai in Chinese.

彭佳屿位于台湾市以北约35英里（56公里），此行是马英九任期内第二次视察彭佳屿。四年前马英九曾访问彭佳屿，提出了中国、台湾和日本解决关于附近的岛群钓鱼岛领土争端的方案。（此地被日本被称为尖阁列岛，中国称为钓鱼岛）

Pengjia, considered the northernmost part of Taiwan’s territory, is not contested and is home to about 40 residents, a weather station and coast guard facilities. It lies some 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of the Japanese-controlled Senkakus, which are hotly disputed by China, in particular. Taiwan also claims the islands, although its conflict with Japan has been considerably less heated, with the two sides reaching fishing agreements in 2013.

彭佳屿位于台湾领土的最北端，它不存在争议，气象站和海岸警卫队共约40人生活在那里。它位于由日本控制的、尤其在中国引起激烈争议的钓鱼岛以西约75英里（120公里）。台湾也坚持对钓鱼岛的主权问题——尽管自2013年双方达成“日台渔业协议”后，其与日本的冲突已大大减少。

After arriving by helicopter Saturday, Ma unveiled a monument to maritime peace at a ceremony and commemorated the fishing deal he had signed with Japan.

4月9日，马英九乘直升机抵达后，将参加和平倡议纪念碑揭碑仪式，以纪念他与日本签订的渔业协议。

Political observers in Taiwan said the island visit represents a symbolic stroke before Ma steps down from the presidency on May 20, when Tsai Ing-wen will be sworn in as Taiwan’s new leader.

台湾的政治观察家说，此行是在马英九5月20日的任期将满、蔡英文将就职台湾新领导人之前，非常有意义的一笔。

"Ma Ying-jeou wanted to (maintain) his legacy over these issues," said Kaocheng Wang, dean of the College of International Studies at Tamkang University in Taipei. "I think he personally thought that is a successful policy to both claim our sovereignty, to safeguard our sovereignty and also to boost his popularity."

台北淡江大学国际研究院院长王考成说，“马英九想（巩固）他在这些问题上所取得的成就，我想，他个人一定认为，这是一个成功的政策，既宣称、维护了我们的主权，也提高了他的声望。”

During his eight years as president, Ma has sought to carve out Taiwan’s position as a mediator in the region’s numerous territorial disputes while asserting its own claims, even though it has been locked in a decades-long standoff with Beijing and lacks formal recognition from most of the world’s nations.

在他八年的任期里，马英九试图为台湾开拓出在该地区诸多领土争端中的调解人身份，同时又坚持自己的主张，尽管它在与中国政府长达数十年的对峙中已经很难再改变，也未被世界上大多数国家所认可。

In January, Ma flew to Taiping Island in the South China Sea’s intensely contested Spratly group to demonstrate that Taiping is a self-supporting island entitled to an exclusive economic zone rather than a "rock," as the Philippines claims in an international lawsuit.

就在今年一月，马英九还飞往中国南海颇具争议的南沙群岛中的太平岛，以表明太平岛是一个自立的岛屿，享有专属的经济区，而不像菲律宾在一个国际诉讼案中所说的那样，其只能算是“岩石”。

Washington, a crucial ally, called that trip "extremely unhelpful" to efforts to maintain stability in a region widely considered a potential military flashpoint.

而作为一个非常重要的盟友，美国称马英九的行程对于维护一个被广泛认为具有潜在的军事冲突的地区的稳定性 “相当无益”。

In March, Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister Bruce Linghu led two dozen journalists on another trip to Taiping.

就在3月，台湾外交部副部长Bruce还带领二十多名记者又一次去了太平岛。

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来源:Yahoo news爱语吧作者:悠悠