China’s new unified coast guard agency has gone into operation, state media reported yesterday amid maritime disputes with its neighbors, and experts said more ships will be armed as a result.
The China Coast Guard integrates the functions of marine surveillance, the existing coast guard, which came under the police, fisheries law enforcement and customs’ anti-smuggling maritime police.
The divisions “that were not allowed to be equipped with weapons can be armed now,” Yang Mian (楊勉), a professor of international relations at the Communication University of China, was quoted as saying by the Global Times newspaper.
“The new agency will also make our law enforcement more powerful,” he said.
The agency will “have reasonable and legal law enforcement equipment” and “detect and rapidly handle in accordance with the law acts that harm China’s maritime rights and interests,” Zhang Junshe (張軍社), a military researcher, wrote in a commentary in the PLA Daily.
Tensions have been growing in Beijing’s island disputes with Tokyo and other neighbors.
Zhang said the new agency would deal with conflicts in the disputed waters according to Chinese law.
That “will ... show the international community that China has undisputable jurisdiction over the waters,” he said.
The China Coast Guard will have 11 squadrons and more than 16,000 personnel, according to various media reports.
Gary Li, an analyst with research firm IHS Maritime, said the fleet would give China “more stamina” for coast guard patrols in the disputed waters.
The move “will have significant impact on China’s territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas around the Senkaku/Diaoyu (釣魚) and the Spratly Islands (南沙群島) respectively,” he wrote in a research note.
Arthur Ding (丁樹範), a professor of international relations at National Chengchi University in Taipei, said China’s patrols in the South and East China Seas were likely to become “more frequent and more forceful.”
“As it is named the coast guard, [its ships] are likely to be authorised to carry light weapons so that they can enforce the law,” he said.
“Clampdowns on so-called illegal acts are likely to increase, with frictions with neighboring countries expected to rise,” he said.
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
A group affiliated with indicted Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) is to be dissolved for monitoring Chinese immigrants in Taiwan, a source said yesterday. Xu, the secretary-general of the Cross-Strait Marriage and Family Service Alliance, was indicted on March 24 on charges of violating the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法). The alliance “illegally monitored" Chinese immigrants living in Taiwan on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Ministry of the Interior is expected to dissolve the organization in the coming days under provisions of the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法), the source said. Xu, who married a Taiwanese in 1993 and became a Republic
RSS