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                Taiwan President To Visit South China Sea Island

   by VOA News

   Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou will visit an island in the South China
   Sea, a resource-rich area at the center of territorial disputes between
   China and its Asia-Pacific neighbors.

   Ma's office says the president will travel to Taiping island Thursday
   to meet with Taiwanese military personnel stationed there ahead of the
   Lunar New Year.

   Taiping is one of many islands located in the Spratly archipelago,
   which are claimed by Beijing and Taipei, as well as Vietnam, the
   Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

   ''Taiwan has completed a major upgrade of its facilities on Taiping,
   including a new lighthouse and an expanded airstrip and port. The
   expansion is an apparent counterweight to China's aggressive
   construction projects throughout the Spratlys.

   Ma's visit to Taiping is taking place just days after Tsai Ing-wen,
   head of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, led her
   party to a landslide win in recent elections.

   Ma's office said the president invited his successor to accompany him
   to Taiping, but the DPP said it had no plans to do so.

   Former President Chen Shui-bian of the DPP visited Taiping in 2008.

   Taiwan and mainland China split in 1949, when the ruling Nationalists
   fled to island after losing the civil war to China's communist forces.

   Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province, and has threatened to
   invade the island if it ever declares its independence.

   ''
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/taiwan-president-to-visit-south-china-sea-island/3164461.html