Taiwan detected a sharp rise in Chinese coast guard and research vessel activity around the nation last month, prompting Taipei to plan drills simulating Chinese escalations off its Pacific coast, Coast Guard Administration data and officials said.
Taiwan reported 55 Chinese government vessel sightings, including coast guard and research boats, around the nation last month, up from 30 in May, the data showed.
The sightings marked an 83 percent increase from May and a 120 percent rise from 25 sightings in June last year.
Photo courtesy of the CGA
The tally excluded sightings around Taiwan-controlled islands near the Chinese coast.
The figures underscore the growing role of China's coast guard in Beijing's latest pressure campaign against Taiwan.
China's military operates almost daily around Taiwan, but Beijing has increasingly used its coast guard to assert its territorial claims in what Taipei calls "lawfare" — efforts to create a legal basis for Chinese actions around the nation.
Taiwan officials said the activity points to a critical wartime risk: that Beijing may be rehearsing how to sever Taiwan's Pacific supply lines from allies.
"If the situation escalates to a blockade — or what would already amount to a quasi-war — we have plans to work with the navy to jointly protect Taiwan's lifeline sea routes," a senior Taiwan coast guard official said at a briefing on condition of anonymity.
"We have anticipated this scenario not only through tabletop exercises, but also through live drills," the official said.
China's Ministry of National Defense and Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A senior Taiwan coast guard official said some Chinese coast guard ships had been converted from former naval destroyers and repainted for coast guard use, posing a heightened threat to Taiwan's coast guard due to their size, endurance and military-grade capabilities.
Chinese coast guard vessels now often operate in pairs just outside Taiwan's economic waters in the Pacific, an expansive area that places a major strain on Taiwan's limited coast guard fleet, the official added.
"This places a major strain on the capacity of Taiwan's coast guard vessels," the official said.
A second senior official described the Chinese activity as "expansion" and an attempt to change the "status quo."
China's coast guard had broadcast questions to merchant vessels about port entry and exit information, putting pressure on commercial shipping, even though no vessel had so far changed course, officials said.
Taiwan had broadcast back to the ships, telling them to maintain normal navigation and ignore Chinese interference.
"It knows it has no jurisdiction now, so it is trying to create something out of nothing," said the second official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
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