Taiwan yesterday expelled four China Coast Guard vessels that entered Taiwan-controlled restricted waters off Lienchiang County (Matsu) shortly after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army announced the start of its “Joint Sword-2024B” drills around Taiwan.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a statement that it had detected two China Coast Guard ships west of Nangan Island (南竿) and another two north of Dongyin Island (東引) at 8am yesterday.
After Chinese ships sailed into restricted waters off Matsu shortly afterward, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch deployed four patrol vessels to shadow and approach the vessels, it said.
Photo copied by Tony Yao, Taipei Times
The incidents pushed up to 44 the number of China’s intrusions into Taiwan-controlled waters off outlying islands this year, the CGA said, adding that this kind of behavior does not help exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
The CGA has created a task force to respond to “abnormal” China Coast Guard activities that began at about 11am yesterday, it added.
Several of the Chinese ships crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and loitered in waters off the northern, southwestern and eastern parts of Taiwan’s shores, it said, adding that it dispatched patrol vessels to assist the Ministry of National Defense in monitoring the vessels.
Meanwhile, the CGA and military troops stationed on Menghu Islet (猛虎嶼) near Kinmen County detected a seaborne target moving toward the islet at 7:06am, the CGA said.
After personnel on two CGA patrol vessels stationed nearby deemed the target suspicious, they intercepted it at the shore of the islet, where they arrested a Chinese citizen in an inflatable boat, it said.
The man said he was in his 40s and from China’s Guangdong Province, and was “seeking freedom due to political persecution,” the CGA said, adding that the man and the boat are being held pending an investigation by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office.
As the lone intruder could be a “gray zone” tactic China is employing alongside the Joint Sword-2024B drills, the CGA said it had stepped up surveillance of critical maritime law enforcement zones and would ensure timely communication with friendly foreign forces.
Additional reporting by AFP
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