'DEVASTATING BLOW': The court said China had interfered with Philippine fishing rights at the Scarborough Shoal and had breached Manila's sovereign rights near the Reed Bank
/ Reuters, AMSTERDAM and BEIJING
An arbitration court ruled yesterday that China has no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea and has breached the Philippines' sovereign rights with its actions, infuriating Beijing, which dismissed the case as a farce.
A defiant China, which boycotted the hearings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, vowed again to ignore the ruling, and said its armed forces would defend its sovereignty and maritime interests.
Xinhua news agency said shortly before the ruling was announced that a Chinese civilian aircraft had successfully tested two new airports in the disputed Spratly Islands （Nansha Islands, 南沙群島） and the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said a new guided-missile destroyer was formally commissioned at a naval base on Hainan, which has responsibility for the South China Sea.
"This award represents a devastating legal blow to China's jurisdictional claims in the South China Sea," Ian Storey of Singapore's ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute said. "China will respond with fury, certainly in terms of rhetoric and possibly through more aggressive actions at sea."
The US, which China has accused of fueling tensions and militarizing the region with patrols and exercises, urged parties to comply with the legally binding ruling and avoid provocations.
"The decision today by the tribunal in the Philippines-China arbitration is an important contribution to the shared goal of a peaceful resolution to disputes in the South China Sea," US Department of State spokesman John Kirby said.
US officials have previously said they feared China might respond to the ruling by declaring an air defense identification zone in the South China Sea, as it did in the East China Sea in 2013, or by stepping up its building and fortification of artificial islands.
China claims most of the energy-rich waters through which about US$5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines also have claims.
Finding for the Philippines on a number of issues, the panel said there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within its so-called "nine-dash line," which covers almost 90 percent of the South China Sea.
It said China had interfered with traditional Philippine fishing rights at the Scarborough Shoal （Huangyan Island, 黃岩島） and had breached the Philippines' sovereign rights by exploring for oil and gas near the Reed Bank （Lile Bank, 禮樂灘）.
None of China's reefs and holdings in the Spratly Islands entitled it to an exclusive economic zone, it added.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the ruling, saying its people had more than 2,000 years of history in the South China Sea, that its islands did have exclusive economic zones and that it had announced to the world its "dotted line" map in 1948.
"China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea shall under no circumstances be affected by those awards," the ministry said.
"The award is a complete and total victory for the Philippines... a victory for international law and international relations," said Paul Reichler, lead lawyer for Manila.
Vietnam said it welcomed the ruling.
The ruling is significant, as it is the first time that a legal challenge has been brought in the dispute.
Protesters throw flowers while chanting anti-Chinese slogans during a rally over the South China Sea dispute in Metro Manila, the Philippines, yesterday. Photo: Reuters
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'SPEARHEAD': Spokesman Alex Huang said opinion polls suggest that the public has high expectations of judicial reform and Tsai Ing-wen must shoulder the responsibility
By Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter
Outgoing Judicial Yuan Vice President Su Yeong-chin's （蘇永欽） accusations that President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） is interfering with the judicial system are "regrettable" and "diverge from contemporary values," Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang （黃重諺） said yesterday.
"Judicial independence has three major characteristics: independent decisionmaking, personnel management and budget," Huang told a routine media briefing at the Presidential Office.
The spokesman said that having the president lead judicial reform and push for general systematic renewals neither affects the independence of the judiciary's decisionmaking and personnel management, nor its budgetary autonomy.
"Tsai's role is merely to set the general direction for the government's judicial reform endeavors. It surely does not constitute interference with judicial independence," Huang said.
Citing Article 44 of the Constitution, Huang said the president has the right to call a meeting of leaders of concerned government branches for consultation, with the goal of reaching a solution should disputes occur between more than two branches of government.
As intergovernmental disputes remain the greatest impediment to the promotion of judicial reform, it is necessary for the president to play a coordinating role, Huang said, adding that Tsai's plan to hold a national affairs conference on judicial reform is aimed at building an open, objective and transparent deliberative platform that invites public participation.
"The results of many opinion polls have suggested that the public has high expectations of judicial reform. As a popularly elected head of state, Tsai must shoulder this responsibility and spearhead the reforms," Huang said.
On Su's remarks, "which apparently diverge from contemporary values, we can only express regret," Huang added.
Huang was referring to criticism leveled by Su against Tsai at a news conference in Taipei yesterday morning, during which the outgoing deputy head of the Judicial Yuan made public a resignation letter he wrote to the president on May 24.
Su held the news conference a day after Tsai approved his and outgoing Judicial Yuan President Rai Hau-min's （賴浩敏） resignations, before picking Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lin Chin-fang （林錦芳） and Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission Chief Commissioner Hsieh Wen-ting （謝文定） to succeed them.
The pair's nominations have been sent to the Legislative Yuan for approval.
"The reasons Lai and I chose to resign were absolutely not because of the transfer of presidential power, but rather to leave the top posts in the Judicial Yuan to people who are more like-minded with Tsai, so that she can push for judicial reform," Su told the news conference.
Su said another reason behind his resignation was the president directly intervening in the promotion of judicial reform, which he said should be spearheaded independently by the Judicial Yuan.
Even though former presidents Lee Teng-hui （李登輝）, Chen Shui-bian （陳水扁） and Ma Ying-jeou （馬英九） were also concerned about the judicial system, they all let the Judicial Yuan take charge of judicial reform, Su added.
In his resignation letter, Su said that the Judicial Yuan is not part of the "new government," because the Constitution does not directly bestow upon the president the right to lead judicial reform.
He also took issue with Tsai's plan to establish a preparatory committee for a national affairs conference on judicial reform that falls under the Presidential Office.
To ensure public participation, only less than half of the committee's 15 to 21 seats are to be filled by judicial experts.
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State-run First Commercial Bank （第一銀行） said yesterday its clients' rights would not be affected by an ATM-hacking incident over the weekend that saw it lose NT$70 million （US$2.2 million）, as banks nationwide halted the use of ATMs made by the same German company.
The ATMs involved were made by Paderborn, Germany-based Wincor Nixdorf, a supplier of retail banking hardware, software and services.
First Commercial Bank, the banking arm of First Financial Holding Co （第一金控）, said the hacking was limited to 34 ATMs at 20 branches in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taichung and the bank's computer network was not compromised.
It dismissed the possibility of an insider job, saying the bank has a strong firewall system and a preliminary inspection by external security experts did not find any trace of internal violations.
With more than 180 branches nationwide, First Bank has more than 700 ATMs in service. More than 300 are the same model as the ones hacked on Saturday and Sunday, the bank said.
It has suspended use of all Wincor ATMs pending an internal probe into the incident, the bank said, adding that it has conducted regular maintenance of the 10-year-old machines.
First Bank said it will cooperate with the judicial investigation into the incident.
Taiwan Cooperative Bank, the nation's largest lender by number of branches, said it has halted service of more than 190 Wincor ATMs at branches nationwide to ensure transaction security.
Chang Hwa Commercial Bank （CHB, 彰銀） said it has 49 Wincor ATMs and has suspended the use of 39 of them.
The other 10 are inside three of its branches, and CHB said it would step up oversight of the ATMs' functions.
Hua Nan Commercial Bank （華南銀） said it has 89 Wincor ATMs and was evaluating whether to suspend their use.
The Financial Supervisory Commission （FSC） asked First Commercial Bank to investigate all the ATMs immediately after the hacking was reported.
"The money stolen has nothing to do with deposits, bank clients' rights would not be affected," Banking Bureau Director-General Austin Chan （詹庭禎） told a new conference yesterday.
The commission has also requested banks to inspect their ATM fleets to prevent a similar occurrence in Wincor models.
About 20 percent of domestic banks' ATMs use the same Wincor model, Chan added.
Banks should check their security controls over these machines and decide if they need to be replaced, Chan said.
The commission has encouraged the development of financial technology for several years, but said companies should pay attention to security issues when developing such technology.
"After all, companies cannot deny the trend of digitalization," Chan told reporters.
First Financial Bank said the hack was unrelated to its cardless ATM cash withdrawal service that it launched last month.
The bankers association said it would reinforce its existing security rules on ATMs, and establish a better monitoring system among computer terminals.
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