Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Wednesday that Chinese coast guards’ pestering of a Taiwanese research vessel carrying Philippine scientists earlier this year was a breach of a United Nations convention.

At the time, the research vessel, the R/V Legend, was in the South China Sea, carrying out a joint scientific project between Taiwan and the Philippines, under the terms of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), MOFA spokeswoman Joanne Ou (???)said.

The “harassment” by Chinese coast guard ships not only jeopardized regional security and stability but also contravened the UNCLOS, which sets out the rights and obligations of countries to conduct scientific research in the world’s oceans, Ou said.

MOFA, therefore, is protesting and condemning the Chinese coast guard’s pestering of the R/V Legend in March, she said, without giving any details of the coast guard’s actions.

Citing the Taiwan government’s four principles and five actions pertaining to issues in the South China Sea, Ou said disputes in the region should be settled peacefully by all parties concerned, in accordance with international law and the law of the sea.

MOFA’s statement on the issue was issued after the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Tuesday that it had summoned a senior official at the Chinese Embassy in Manila on April 13 to protest the alleged “harassment” of the R/V Legend, which was conducting research in the “West Philippine Sea.”

The West Philippine Sea is Manila’s official designation of parts of the South China Sea that are included in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

On May 26, the United States-based research organization Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) said in a report that separate incidents had been recorded of Chinese law enforcement vessels challenging “marine research and hydrocarbon exploration activities within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.”

In the report titled “Three Rounds of Coercion,” the AMTI said that on March 23, the China Coast Guard vessel 5203 left Mischief Reef in the Spratlys Islands and “began shadowing” the R/V Legend at a distance of 2-3 nautical miles, while the Legend was conducting its research in Philippine territory.

On April 6, the same Chinese coast guard boat again tailed the R/V Legend, which was being accompanied by a Philippine coast guard patrol vessel, the BRP Capones, the report said.

The Chinese coast guard stopped shadowing the two vessels only after the BRP Capones returned to port in San Fernando and the R/V Legend sailed back to Taiwan three days later, the AMTI said.

According to an Associated Press report published in April, the R/V Legend, carrying five Filipino scientists and an unspecific number of Taiwanese researchers, was on a month-long project to map offshore faults and other geological features that could set off earthquakes, tsunamis and other potential catastrophes in the region.

The project, which concluded on April 13, was partly funded by the Philippine Department of Science and Technology and conducted jointly by the National Institute of Geological Sciences at the University of the Philippines and Taiwan’s National Central University, the AP report said.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel