The Chinese maritime militia is operating hundreds of civilian fishing vessels to conduct “gray zone” campaigns in the Taiwan Strait, a US-based think tank said in a report this month.
Beijing is deploying dual-use and unmarked fishing vessels to engage in surveillance and harassment operations with the aim of coercion and paving way for military actions without risking an open conflict, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) wrote on Oct 8.
The CSIS said its analysts tracked the GPS and automatic identification system (AIS) signals of 315 China-flagged fishing vessels to isolate watercraft operated by China’s maritime militia from other civilian boats.
Photo: Philippine Coast Guard via AP
The center’s research group mapped hot zones of genuine fishing activity in waters across the globe to identify Chinese military boats in disguise, it said.
The analysis is based on data gathered during the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Joint Sword-2024A and 2024B exercises, the CSIS said.
Researchers flagged 128 to 209 Chinese boats as suspicious, because they had spent more than 30 percent of sailing time in drill areas or less than 10 percent in waters used for fishing, it said.
They additionally found that 209 vessels displayed AIS anomalies — including “going dark, changing identifiers, or reducing or attempting to mask their AIS movements” — in or near military exercise zones, the CSIS said.
Some of the vessels changed their names in the international ship registry during periods of AIS blackout or weak signal, it said.
One vessel appeared to have used 11 distinct mobile maritime service identification serial numbers and changed them 1,300 times in a year, the CSIS said.
The intelligence agencies of the US and its allies should map the corporate ownership networks linked to suspicious vessels to identify the shell companies on which China relies to operate disguised military vessels, it said.
“Publishing and punishing a rolling blacklist of repeat offenders through sanctions on owners, insurers and operators would raise costs and shrink deniability,” the CSIS added.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense in a report to lawmakers last week said that the PLA from January to last month had launched 3,003 sorties over the Taiwan Strait median line and sailed 2,000 vessels into the nation’s exclusive economic zone.
China operates aircraft and vessels in the areas surrounding Taiwan proper three to four times a month on average, it said.
Taiwan is developing long-range uncrewed vehicles with high-resolution optical devices, infrared devices and radars to bolster the air force and navy’s reconnaissance capabilities, it added.
Such drones would be plugged into a common platform to enable real-time intelligence sharing between branches of the armed forces and foreign military partners, the ministry said.
The armed forces continue to use joint intelligence gathering systems to monitor Chinese activities and respond with appropriate force to potentially threatening movements to protect the nation’s sovereignty and security, it added.
Additional reporting by Chen Chih-chen
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS