About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday.
Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said.
The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about 1,900 as the ministry tracked vessels that participated in the exercises, based on reports by the New York Times and Defense News, Hsieh said.
Photo courtesy of Bear Machi
Defense News cited IngeniSPACE data showing that China had gathered 2,000 ships northeast of Taiwan and formed them into a 466km long L-shaped wall as part of drills to cut off Taiwan from foreign shipping lanes.
Two similar exercises were held last month — three days before China’s “Justice Mission 2025” drills — and this month, in which a mock blockade was maintained for 30 hours, the magazine said.
The Chinese People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia could become a nontraditional lethal threat during war that could inundate shipping lanes, preventing US and Japanese ships from intervening, and serving as decoys to deplete Taiwan’s limited anti-surface missiles, it said.
Such a force could be used to directly blockade commercial ports, and starve Taiwan of energy and food, it said.
It is relatively easy to monitor Chinese fishing ships that could be commandeered for militia use, but roll-on and roll-off freighters, which the Chinese could commandeer to ferry armored military vehicles, are harder to keep an eye on, Hsieh said.
Any freighters that slow to speeds below 5 knots (9kph) about 1km from the cable alert zones would trigger a signal from Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) to vacate the area, a warning that, if necessary, would be supported by the presence of CGA ships.
If the ships are suspected of having severed or destroyed undersea cables, they would be boarded and inspected, and prosecutors would be alerted, Hsieh said.
Media reports cited satellite imagery as showing that China is attempting to reclaim land in the South China Sea around Antelope Reef (Lingyangjiao, 羚羊礁) in the disputed Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which is claimed by Taiwan.
China intends to build a radar station on the reef, a helicopter pad and a military port to serve as a naval forward operating base, which would enable it to maintain constant surveillance of the southern side of the first island chain, news reports said.
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