Taiwan plans to enhance its defenses of the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) as China steps up its activities around the islands, which lie at the top end of the South China Sea, the minister in charge of Taiwan’s coast guard said yesterday.
Lying roughly between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than 400km — from Taiwan.
The Pratas, an atoll which is also a Taiwanese national park, are only lightly defended by Taiwan, and its coast guard has that responsibility rather than the military.
Photo: Reuters
China was gradually expanding the maritime areas in which it carries out “gray zone” harassment — referring to non-combat operations designed to put pressure on Taiwan, such as coast guard patrols, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling(管碧玲) said.
Since last year, the number of Chinese government boats, which include the coast guard, has increased around the Pratas, whereas previously activity was concentrated around Taiwan itself and the Kinmen islands, which sit close to the Chinese coast, she said.
“From a political and strategic perspective, we have found that for them, seizing Dongsha would carry considerable strategic significance,” Kuan said, using the name Taiwan and China use for the Pratas.
Taiwan has renovated the wharf on the main island and would regularly deploy vessels with greater operational capacity there, she said, speaking to the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club.
“Dongsha is an excellent and highly important site for the development of an island defense system, and we currently have plans to develop this,” Kuan said, without giving details.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In January, Taiwan said that a Chinese reconnaissance drone briefly flew over the Pratas, in what the Ministry of National Defense called a “provocative and irresponsible” move.
China’s pressure campaign “lets down people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” given it drains resources from other things such as rescuing mariners in distress, Kuan said.
In time of war, Taiwan’s coast guard ships would be pressed into action, including its new Anping-class corvettes, which are based on the navy’s Tuo Chiang-class warships and have space to install anti-ship missiles.
However, China is also giving Taiwan an opportunity to learn, Kuan said.
“As a result, we are accelerating our efforts to strengthen our capabilities and to speed up the transition between peacetime and wartime readiness,” she said.
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