Chinese Coast Guard patrols to the east of Taiwan are a “provocative act” and the military would closely coordinate with the Coast Guard Administration in responding, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday.
China reacted after Japan and the Philippines said last month they would begin formal talks on delimiting their maritime boundaries, including waters off Taiwan. Delimitation is the process of legally establishing the outer limits of a state.
Late on Saturday last week, Chinese state media said ships had been sent to carry out a “special maritime traffic law-enforcement operation” in the waters east of Taiwan in response to the Japanese and Philippine announcement.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sent its own ships to warn away the Chinese ones and said on Sunday they had been “expelled” from restricted waters.
“First, this is a provocative act, and second, it is cognitive warfare,” Koo said at the Legislative Yuan.
“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.”
The CGA said the four Chinese ships had left Taiwanese waters in the early hours of yesterday morning, heading east.
Koo said yesterday the military is coordinating with the CGA with close and continuous intelligence sharing.
The navy generally only shadows and warns Chinese navy ships, while the CGA, which would be seconded to the navy in times of war, has responsibility for monitoring China Coast Guard ships.
Chinese warplanes and warships already operate around Taiwan on an almost daily basis.
Taiwan is also monitoring an extended mission by the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning in the Western Pacific.
Koo said it was currently sailing east of the Philippines.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has called on the government to take a tougher approach in negotiations with Japan and the Philippines, saying that failing to do so could give China a pretext for action.
Democratic Progressive Party caucus chief executive Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) yesterday pointed out that China Coast Guard vessels had repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s waters as early as last month, long before any Japan-Philippines tensions emerged.
The Chinese Communist Party does not need an excuse to exert pressure on Taiwan, he said.
In response to these incursions, he called on the ruling and opposition parties to fully support the government and CGA personnel in law enforcement efforts and in safeguarding national security.
Separately, in response to media queries, the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association said yesterday that the maritime boundary agreement between Japan and the Philippines applies solely to the two signatories and does not carry legal obligations for any third parties. As such, it is considered to pose no issues under international law, it said.
It added that Japan views the negotiations as a positive example of how disputes can be peacefully resolved under international law, in line with the principles of a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Additional reporting by Lin Che-yuan and Huang Chin-hsuan
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