A military expert warned of the potential threat of Chinese civilian vessels operating in the waters off Taiwan conducting espionage under the pretense of research.
Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the state-run Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that China currently has a fleet of more than 60 research and survey vessels, and that Taiwan is not the only nation susceptible to their threat.
Su’s comments came following a report in the Financial Times on Tuesday which said that the Zhu Hai Yun (珠海雲), a Chinese drone carrier with links to the People’s Liberation Army, made an unprecedented voyage down the full length of Taiwan’s east coast in November last year.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
In addition, there has been a sharp uptick in the number of such incursions from just two in each of the previous three years to nine since September last year, the Financial Times said.
According to the Financial Times’ analysis of the Zhu Hai Yun’s path, the ship spent a day tracking the 24-nautical mile (44.4km) line east of Taiwan’s shores demarcating the nation’s contiguous territorial zone, crossing it once off the city of Hualien, home to Chiashan Air Force Base, and again in the Bashi Channel, which Chinese ships need to pass through to reach the Pacific Ocean.
“While past incursions occurred mostly north, south and west of Taiwan, there is a more recent focus on the strategic waters to the east,” the Financial Times reported.
Su said that another Chinese ship, the Xiang Yang Hong 03, is to be moored in the Maldives, describing the move as one that would surely touch a raw nerve with the South Asian nation and India.
In addition, China previously dispatched Type 815 Dongdiao-class spy ships to the waters off Australia, he said.
These examples show that Taiwan is not alone in facing Chinese harassment and, more importantly, that Taiwan should be vigilant about espionage.
China frequently uses vessels operated by government and military-affiliated research institutes to assert its claims in disputed waters, sailing close to oil exploration sites inside the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam and Malaysia in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety.
“This represents one more tool the People’s Republic of China is using in what I call the all-domain pressure campaign against Taiwan,” Christopher Sharman, director of the China Maritime Studies Institute at the US Naval War College, was quoted by the Financial Times as saying.
In light of these threats, Su recommended holding live-fire drills on “red beaches” — beaches along Taiwan’s west coast deemed most vulnerable to landing by Chinese troops — in preparation for a scenario in which China escalates exercises into a conflict.
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