Jeremy Cohen (L). CNA file photo.
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, July 12 (CNA) A U.S. law professor has proposed that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his initiatives to resolve disputes in the East and South China Seas.
Jerome Alan Cohen, a New York University School of Law professor, made his proposal during a question-and-answer session of a lecture Ma gave at his alma mater Harvard University Saturday, saying that he expects Ma to provide more proactive measures to promote peace on Taiping Island in the South China Sea, according to a person who attended the lecture.
Taiping is the biggest Taiwan-controlled island in the contested and resource-rich South China Sea region, which is claimed either entirely or in part by Brunei, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Ma touted the benefits of a fishery agreement signed in 2013 between Taiwan and Japan to address fishing disputes in waters surrounding the disputed Diaoyutai Islands after his East China Sea peace initiative -- which calls for shelving disputes and seeking joint development of resources -- was proposed.
The president also reiterated that his South China Sea proposal is based on the idea that "while national sovereignty cannot be divided or compromised, natural resources can be shared," according to the attendee.
Ma last visited Harvard nine years ago when was mayor of Taipei and chairman of the Kuomintang. He received his Doctorate of Judicial Science from Harvard Law School in 1981.
He arrived in Boston Saturday en route to the Caribbean and Central America, as part of his 11th overseas visit since assuming office in 2008.
The president was greeted at the airport by American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt, U.S. Republican Congressman Blake Farenthold and U.S. Democratic Congressman Stacey Plaskett.
From Boston, Ma will fly to the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Nicaragua. He is slated to return to Taiwan July 18 after a transit in Los Angeles.
(By Kelven Huang and Jeffrey Wu)
ENDITEM/J