By Ben Blanchard
TAIPEI, June 11 (Reuters) - Taiwan’s maritime sovereignty cannot be “violated” by Chinese efforts to create a false impression of jurisdiction, the island’s coast guard said after China ended a patrol off its eastern shores.
China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, was angered after Japan and the Philippines said last month they would begin formal talks on their maritime boundaries, viewing that as involving waters off Taiwan.
Late on Saturday, Chinese state media reported that ships had been sent to carry out a “special maritime traffic law-enforcement operation” and inspect shipping in waters east of Taiwan in response to the Japanese and Philippine announcement.
Late on Wednesday, Chinese state media said the patrol had ended, after it had “inspected 198 passing vessels and rectified violations involving three ships”, carried out a hydrographic survey and patrolled areas where undersea cables are located.
Taiwan’s coast guard said Beijing has no jurisdiction in those waters and that whenever Chinese ships appear, Taiwan’s own vessels will “forcefully drive them away, and maintain the freedom and safety of navigation”.
“Our nation’s maritime sovereignty cannot be violated,” Taiwan’s coast guard said in a statement. “Any country that asserts jurisdiction will be expelled without exception.”
Chinese state media put out a picture of a basic map of its ships’ operations, showing arrows encircling Taiwan.
MERCHANT SHIPS ‘HARASSED’ BY CHINA
Taiwan said this week that three passing merchant ships in the area were “harassed” by the Chinese coast guard which asked them for information about their point of origin and destination and claimed jurisdiction.
Taiwan Coast Guard spokesman Hsieh Ching-chin told reporters on Thursday that some of those ships did respond to the Chinese vessels with information like their next port of call.
China “has no sovereign rights whatsoever in the waters east of Taiwan”, he added.
“Our Coast Guard Administration will, regardless of nationality, expel without exception any vessel involved in asserting jurisdiction, in order to defend our sovereignty,” Hsieh said.
Separately, Kuan Bi-ling, head of Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council, which runs the coast guard, said Chinese “official” boats had intruded on Thursday into restricted waters near Itu Aba, a Taiwan-controlled island deep in the South China Sea.
In a post on X, the council said the ships were only in restricted waters for about 15 minutes before leaving, adding this represented a “continuous escalation of provocations”.
It did not say how many ships were involved or if they were from the coast guard.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
China recognises no sovereignty claimed by Taiwan, and Chinese warships and warplanes operate around the island on an almost daily basis.
Taiwan’s government says only the island’s people can decide their future, and President Lai Ching-te has repeatedly offered talks with China. Beijing has rebuffed Lai, saying he is a “separatist”.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Tom Hogue and Sonali Paul)
