By Lewis Jackson and Ben Blanchard
BEIJING/TAIPEI, July 4 (Reuters) – China said on Saturday it had launched a new coast guard patrol east of Taiwan, drawing a sharp response from Taipei after a task force last month off the island’s coast caused alarm in some Western capitals.
China’s military operates almost daily around Taiwan, which Beijing views as its own territory. But China has begun using its coast guard to enforce its territorial claims in what Taiwan calls “lawfare” to claim a legal basis for Chinese actions.
The fleet will conduct “law enforcement patrols” in the area, China’s Coast Guard said in a statement, adding it would strengthen such patrols in what it called China’s jurisdictional waters.
The coast guard will “firmly safeguard China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests”, it added.
TAIWAN CALLS NEW MOVE ILLEGAL, DISRUPTIVE
Taiwan’s government condemned the new patrol, saying it was an “illegal expansion of power in violation of international law and a disruption of regional stability”.
“The Chinese communists have no sovereignty or related rights in the waters east of Taiwan, have no jurisdiction over these waters, and none of its official vessels have any law-enforcement authority there,” the Mainland Affairs Council, which makes Taiwan’s China policy, said in a statement.
Taiwan’s Coast Guard said it was tracking two Chinese ships and had prepositioned two of its own to sail alongside and monitor them.
As of mid-morning the two Chinese ships were 54 nautical miles east of Taiwan’s Hualien, home to a major air base, but outside of restricted waters, it said in a statement.
Taiwan’s Coast Guard will “continue to employ all necessary measures to forcefully expel Chinese vessels harassing our waters, steadfastly defend national sovereignty, and ensure the security of our maritime domains”.
This is the second time in roughly a month that China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has sent coast guard ships into the waters off Taiwan’s east coast. It risks escalating a diplomatic dispute that has drawn in the U.S., France, Germany and Britain.
China said the first operation in June was in response to an announcement by Japan and the Philippines that they would begin formal talks on their maritime boundaries, which Beijing viewed as involving Chinese waters off Taiwan.
Taiwan said on Wednesday that Taiwanese ships off the east coast should ignore any boarding and inspection demands by China’s Coast Guard and, if necessary, Taiwanese Coast Guard vessels would intervene to stop it from happening.
China recognises no claims of sovereignty by Taiwan. Taiwan says China has no right to claim any sovereignty or jurisdiction over the island or its waters.
On Thursday, China’s Ministry of Natural Resources published in English what it called a “legal opinion” on Japan-Philippines maritime boundary talks.
The two countries should have talks with China on the issue and not engage with Taiwan, the opinion said. “All other states shall refrain from providing assistance to Japan and the Philippines.”
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei and Lewis Jackson in Beijing; Editing by William Mallard)
