Taiwan Condemns Chinese Coast Guard Patrols as 'Provocative Act' Near Its Eastern Waters

Chinese Coast Guard patrols east of Taiwan are a "provocative act", and the military will closely coordinate with the island's Coast Guard in its response, Taiwan'S Defence Minister Wellington Koo said on Monday.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, was angered after Japan and the Philippines announced last month that they would begin formal talks on delimiting their maritime boundaries, a move Beijing sees as involving waters off Taiwan. Delimitation is the process of legally establishing the outer limits of a state's maritime jurisdiction.

Late on Saturday, Chinese state media reported that ships had been dispatched to conduct a "special maritime traffic law-enforcement operation" in waters east of Taiwan in response to the announcement by Japan and the Philippines.

Taiwan's Coast Guard deployed its own vessels to warn off the Chinese ships and said on Sunday that they had been "expelled" from restricted waters.

"First this is a provocative act, and second it is cognitive warfare," Koo told parliament.

"They are attempting to first claim the eastern waters as their domain, like casting a large spider's web over the area," he added. "This is a serious affront to our national sovereignty."

On Monday, Chinese state media published footage of a Chinese officer warning Taiwan's Coast Guard, saying: "Be aware of your language - the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are both part of one China."

Taiwan's Coast Guard said the four Chinese vessels left Taiwanese waters in the early hours of Monday and headed east.

Koo said the military would maintain close coordination with the Coast Guard through continuous intelligence sharing and operational cooperation.

On Sunday, Kuan Bi-ling, head of Taiwan's Ocean Affairs Council, which oversees the Coast Guard, wrote on Facebook that China had been carrying out a month-long campaign of "escalating provocations" since early May.

The campaign has included operations around the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands in the northern South China Sea and the deployment of a research vessel into waters near Taiwan, she said.

"The ocean should be an ocean of peace, not an ocean of conflict and threats," Kuan added.

Taiwan's Navy generally tracks and warns Chinese naval vessels, while the Coast Guard is responsible for monitoring Chinese Coast Guard ships. The Coast Guard would also play an auxiliary role in supporting the Navy during wartime.

Chinese warplanes and warships already operate around Taiwan on an almost daily basis.

Taiwan is also monitoring an extended deployment by China's aircraft carrier Liaoning in the Western Pacific. Koo said the carrier was currently operating in waters east of the Philippines.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, while Taiwan's government continues to reject Beijing's sovereignty claims.

(Reuters' report)