Taiwan as the regional dispute mediator?

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Ma Ying-jeou calls it his South China Sea Peace Initiative. But the President of Taiwan could as easily call his strategy for cooling Asian territorial spats his "no Western meddling" plan.

His argument amounts to this: With few exceptions, Asian nations have not generally sorted out their differences through international institutions like the United Nations or the International Court of Justice. So why would maritime disputes be any different?

"East Asian countries do not have a tradition of using third-party adjudication to resolve disputes," Mr. Ma said in an interview with The Globe and Mail late last week. "Instead, we prefer bilateral negotiations."

Mr. Ma's comments come amid a backdrop of tension. Regional stability has been threatened by fleets of Chinese dredges that have sucked sand from the ocean and spat it onto outcroppings that were once reefs – creating artificial islands with, in the case of Fiery Cross Island, a runway long enough to potentially launch bombers.

The construction work has prompted outrage from Asian neighbours and the United States alike, worries that are particularly strong this week as Beijing mounts a military parade that has put an exclamation mark on its growing defence capability.

China is attempting to "unilaterally and coercively change the status quo – transgressions that the United States and our allies and partners stand united against," U.S. deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier this summer.

Beijing, meanwhile, has said it has not disturbed free maritime navigation – and recently announced a halt to island-building work, though that claim met skepticism among foreign nations.

Under Mr. Ma, Taiwan has sought to occupy the middle. His critique of international arbitration places him in China's camp – a position that some observers say advantages Beijing in two-way talks with smaller countries less able to stand against a rising superpower. Mr. Ma also suggested other nations have been hypocritical. "Vietnam claims sovereignty over 29 islands and has built artificial facilities on 14 of them," he said. "The Philippines and Malaysia are doing the same."

But, he acknowledged that with those nations, "the scale was smaller and smaller and they are not moving as fast as mainland China." He also argued against Beijing gaining much ground from its efforts. Artificial islands "do not enjoy the right to the territorial sea exclusive economic zones or continental shelf," he said. "They can only have a 500-metre safety zone."

Most important, he said, is to find a path to peaceful resolution that safeguards freedom of navigation by air and sea. He wants sparring neighbours to first set aside territorial spats to allow conversation to occur.

Grievances and messy map lines could then, he said, be better sorted out through a structure whereby, for example, Taiwan, China and Japan each meet with each other individually before coming together for three-party talks on resolving the dispute over the Diaoyutai, or Senkaku, Islands.

"Based on our observations, if we continue to focus on sovereignty disputes it is impossible for us to resolve [South China Sea issues]," Mr. Ma said.

Still, the proof Mr. Ma offered for his approach suggests an opposite conclusion is also possible: that between Asian nations, international arbitration has shown success where talks have failed.

In most of the high-profile Asian territory disputes, at least one nation involved has resisted third-party involvement. The Philippines has brought a case against China to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague; Beijing has refused to participate.

Ownership of the Diaoyutai, or Senkaku Islands; Scarborough Shoal; and the Dokdo, or Takeshima, Islands all remains hotly disputed, for similar reasons. Japan and Russia have been unable to settle claims to several Kuril Islands, which Tokyo calls its Northern Territories.

In none of those cases have two-way talks produced a solution.

By contrast, the International Court of Justice largely succeeded in splitting claims by Malaysia and Singapore over several islands in 2008, in a decision that Malaysia called a "win-win" and Singapore said it was "pleased" with.

Mr. Ma suggested that example is not applicable to other Asian nations.

"These two countries used to be the colonies of the United Kingdom," he said.

It's not clear, however, what will happen to Mr. Ma's plan once he leaves office following an election on Jan. 16, 2016. Polls show his party, the Kuomintang, is at risk of losing.

Still, the election campaign itself has underscored Taiwan's importance to the South China Sea debates.

The nine-dotted line China has imposed on the region's waters is based on historical work done under the Republic of China government, which governed mainland China until it fled from the Communists to Taiwan. Even today, the island government continues to claim sovereignty over mainland China.

Campaign rumours have circulated suggesting a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) president, whose candidate Tsai Ing-wen is leading in the polls, could abandon the Republic of China's historic claim to parts of the South China Sea. Such a move could throw China's own claim into turmoil.

Ms. Tsai's campaign, however, denied that possibility. James Huang, director of the department for international affairs for the party, said in an interview: "That's not true. That's not our position. Our position is we claim our sovereignty in the South China Sea."

The DPP wants to encourage "the peaceful use of natural resources in that part of the world," Mr. Huang said.