China is ramping up its presence around Taiwan, in a pattern that Taipei said is designed to ‘alter the status quo’.
Taiwan has confronted and driven away 16 Chinese coastguard, research and fishing vessels that it said were involved in simultaneous “maritime harassment” operations.
An “unusually large” number of Chinese vessels took part in coordinated operations around Taiwan’s main island and Pratas (also known as Dongsha), a disputed island to the southwest, the Taiwanese coastguard said in a statement on Sunday.
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The Chinese vessels included four fishing boats, which engaged in “simultaneous operations’ that the coastguard described as “hybrid warfare”.
Taiwan’s coastguard said its vessels took “forceful action immediately to effectively neutralise the threats” and accused Beijing of “attempting to unilaterally alter the status quo” in the Taiwan Strait and give the “false impression of jurisdiction”.
Some of the vessels reportedly entered Taiwan’s restricted waters.
Intensified maritime pressure
Beijing claims Taiwan and Pratas as part of its territory and asserts jurisdiction over the surrounding waters, which Taipei rejects. China has long threatened to use force to regain control of Taiwan.
In an incident on October 1 , Taiwan’s coastguard fired water cannon at a Chinese recreational fishing vessel near Pratas island between Taiwan and mainland China that Beijing claims.
China has intensified its maritime pressure on Taiwan in recent months. Beijing deployed a record 244 coastguard, scientific research and other ships around Taiwan’s main island in July, Taiwanese official data show, compared with just 58 in the same month last year.
In the first 21 days of August, 152 vessels were detected; most were from the Chinese Coastguard, but fishing boats and research vessels were also involved.
China also deploys warships around Taiwan on a near-daily basis, but those are counted separately.