A Chinese cruise ship sailed within 2 nautical miles (3.7km) of Pingtung County’s Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), a group wrote on Facebook on Friday.
Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan, posted footage of the Gulangyu (鼓浪嶼號) cruise ship passing through waters off southern Taiwan, where the vessel could be clearly seen from the shoreline.
With a passenger capacity of up to 1,800 people, the ship, if fully loaded, would have enough people to staff a battalion-sized military force, Taiwan ADIZ wrote.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan ADIZ Facebook page
If such events become routine, they could pose a “serious threat to Taiwan’s security,” it said.
A video allegedly taken by a passenger on the ship showing the peninsula overlaid with simplified Chinese text reading: “Taiwan is China” was posted to Chinese social media.
Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) yesterday said that the public should be aware of the incident, which appeared to be a part of Chinese “gray zone” activities, which are provocative or aggressive actions that fall below the threshold of armed conflict.
The council would work with the Maritime and Port Bureau and national security agencies to establish a database of closely monitored vessels, she said.
The cruise ship has been identified as a Bermuda-registered passenger ship, she said.
After entering Taiwan’s waters around 2pm on Wednesday, the ship was monitored by the Coast Guard Administration, and it maintained course and speed, eventually exiting Taiwan’s waters toward the northeast, Kuan said.
The incident was understood to be a “united front” action by China, she added.
The government has already established a cross-agency joint mechanism for managing maritime targets, she said.
The coast guard is responsible for monitoring flag-of-convenience vessels funded with Chinese capital, especially in sensitive areas such as undersea cable zones, she said.
The Maritime and Port Bureau oversees the Regulations on the Administration of Innocent Passage of Foreign Vessels through the Territorial Sea of the Republic of China (外國船舶無害通過中華民國領海管理辦法), and it would work with national security agencies to build a vessel intelligence and tracking database, she said.
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