The government should prepare for the possibility of increased activity from China’s maritime militia following the inclusion of China Coast Guard and other vessels in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) war games around Taiwan on Monday, an academic said yesterday.
China Central Television-affiliated social media channel Yu Yuan Tan Tian said the exercises, designated Joint Sword-2024B, were the first such drills to include China Coast Guard ships, armed with 76mm guns and having a top speed of 25 knots (46.3kph).
The exercises also included a full circumnavigation of Taiwan, as opposed to naval operations restricted to areas off the east coast, it said, adding that the China Coast Guard also for the first time conducted operations within restricted zones near Lienchiang County (Matsu).
Photo: screen grab from the China Coast Guard’s Sina Weibo account
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) on Monday said that it expelled four Chinese coast guard ships that entered Taiwan-controlled waters off Matsu shortly after the PLA announced the start of the drills.
The inclusion of China Coast Guard vessels was part of the China’s “gray zone” tactics, and would likely be included in future military exercises, Tamkang University Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies director Li Da-jung (李大中) said.
As it is not an official branch of the PLA, the coast guard’s inclusion in Monday’s exercises hints at the possibility that China would also step up its use of other paramilitary forces, such as its maritime militia, comprised of law enforcement and fishing vessels, he said.
Photo: screen grab from the China Coast Guard’s Sina Weibo account
It was “unprecedented” for so many China Coast Guard ships to patrol simultaneously in the region, Singapore-based security analyst Collin Koh (高瑞連) said, adding that the step “could herald a new norm for Beijing’s gray zone pressure on Taiwan.”
Coast Guard Administration Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) condemned the China Coast Guard’s cognitive warfare tactics and urged the public not to fall for China’s lies, after the China Coast Guard issued a picture of one of its vessels along with its route around Taiwan on Monday.
The China Coast Guard said the route was shaped like a heart “because they could not stop loving Taiwan even when on duty.”
Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration
The CGA monitored China’s military exercise throughout the drills, Hsieh said, adding that it was confident and capable of defending the nation’s maritime borders.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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