China Sends Coast Guard Fleet East of Taiwan Again, Taipei Calls Move Illegal

China has sent another coast guard fleet into waters east of Taiwan, triggering an immediate response from Taipei, which called the move illegal and destabilising, roughly a month after a similar operation drew concern from Western governments, Reuters reported.

Beijing's coast guard said the fleet would conduct law enforcement patrols in what it described as China's jurisdictional waters, adding that it would strengthen such operations and "firmly safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests". China's military conducts near daily operations around Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory, but has increasingly deployed its coast guard as a tool of what Taiwan describes as lawfare, an attempt to establish a legal basis for asserting Chinese jurisdiction.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council rejected the patrol in blunt terms, saying China had no sovereignty, jurisdiction or law enforcement authority over the waters east of the island and that no Chinese official vessel had any right to operate there, the news agency said.

Taiwan's Coast Guard said it was tracking two Chinese ships located approximately 54 nautical miles east of Hualien, home to a major air base, and had pre-positioned two of its own vessels to shadow them. Taipei has also instructed Taiwanese ships in the area to ignore any boarding or inspection demands from Chinese coast guard vessels, with Taiwan's own coast guard pledging to intervene if necessary.

Dispute Widens

This marks the second such operation in the space of a month. China said the first, conducted in June, was prompted by Japan and the Philippines announcing formal talks on their maritime boundaries, which Beijing characterised as encroaching on Chinese waters near Taiwan. The earlier episode drew expressions of concern from the United States, France, Germany and Britain.

The diplomatic dimensions of the dispute have broadened further. On Thursday, China's Ministry of Natural Resources published what it described as a legal opinion on the Japan-Philippines maritime boundary discussions, arguing that both countries should engage with China on the matter rather than Taiwan, and warning all other states against assisting the two nations in those talks.

Taiwan maintains that China holds no claim over the island or its surrounding waters, a position Beijing categorically rejects.