Taiwan’s coast guard said Sunday it had deployed ships in response to a Chinese operation off the east of the island.
Taipei said it detected four Chinese government ships departing from Xiamen and dispatched more than five coast guard vessels to monitor.
Joseph Wu, secretary-general of the National Security Council, posted a video on Twitter where the coast guard is broadcasting Chinese ships: “This is not your territorial waters. You do not belong here. Now turn around and leave.”
Warning that the Chinese operation “violates international law”, the Taiwanese coast guard said in a statement that it had “deployed the necessary vessels to respond appropriately.”
“China has no sovereign rights in Taiwan’s eastern waters,” the statement said.
Taipei says Beijing is trying to ‘provoke’ Taiwan
According to Chinese state media, Beijing had launched a “law enforcement operation” in the area following planned talks to draw the border line between Japan and the Philippines.
According to Chinese state media Xinhua report, the operation was “a necessary action taken against Japan and the Philippines’ unilateral announcement that they will begin ‘negotiations on the delimitation of the maritime boundary’ near Taiwan.”
China claims Taiwan as its own territory, which Taipei rejects.
On Saturday, Taiwan said a Chinese coast guard ship and a survey ship had conducted their first coordinated operation near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands in the South China Sea.
Taipei described the move as a deliberate provocation aimed at creating a “false illusion” of Chinese jurisdiction over the area.
China angry with cooperation between Japan and Philippines
Tensions are rising amid close cooperation between Japan and the Philippines over maritime disputes with China.
Last month, Tokyo and Manila agreed to begin talks “to delimit the maritime boundary” of an economic zone and continental shelf between them, a move criticized by Beijing.
Meanwhile, China has also increased coast guard and navy deployment in the South China Sea, leading to frequent confrontations with the Philippines.
Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko
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