Taiwan Accuses China Coast Guard of Harassing Shipping in Patrol

Taiwan's Coast Guard said late Saturday that China's Coast Guard is harassing shipping with its latest patrol off the island's east coast and trying to exert a jurisdiction that Taipei calls fictional. Taiwan sent its own ships to keep watch on the Chinese vessels.

Two Chinese coast guard ships took part in the east coast patrol, Taiwan's Coast Guard said in response to China's announcement of the operation. Chinese state media showed video of one ship broadcasting a radio message saying it was carrying out law enforcement and offering help to any vessel that needed it.

China's coast guard said on Saturday that it carried out what it described as routine law enforcement patrols in waters east of Taiwan. Its spokesperson Jiang Lue said the coast guard has strengthened control over those waters since the start of October to protect the lawful rights and safety of Chinese people, including Taiwan compatriots, and that patrols in waters under its jurisdiction would step up further.

A second front at the Pratas Islands

China also sent another coast guard ship close to the Taiwan controlled Pratas Islands on Saturday, Taiwan's Coast Guard said separately. The Pratas sit at the top of the South China Sea, roughly between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, and have no permanent civilian population. Taiwan said it has expelled Chinese coast guard vessels from Pratas waters 13 times so far this year.

Why the east coast matters

China views Taiwan as its own territory and recognises no sovereignty claims by Taipei, including over the seas around the island. Activity off the east coast has stepped up since June, with regular coast guard patrols in waters that used to see far less Chinese presence.

Taipei treats the east coast as critical to wartime supply routes from allies in the event of a blockade or conflict, because most Chinese military pressure has usually fallen on the island's west, facing the mainland. Taiwanese officials say they believe China is practising for a possible maritime blockade using overlapping military, paramilitary and civilian forces.

The patrols are law enforcement in name, run by a coast guard rather than the navy, which lets Beijing press its claim day after day without a military deployment. Each sailing also tests how fast Taiwan can respond on two sides of the island at once, east and southwest, where the Pratas lie.

What happens next

China's coast guard has said the patrols will continue and grow. Taiwan says its ships will keep monitoring and expelling vessels from waters it controls. No confrontation was reported in Saturday's patrols, and no shipping was reported stopped or boarded. The test for both sides is whether a routine that now runs on both coasts stays routine.