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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Conflict & Security

Taiwan urges its ships to ignore Chinese coast guard boarding requests

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency Ongoing story
  • Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration instructed Taiwanese vessels to notify local authorities, approach Taiwanese patrol boats and refuse any Chinese coast guard requests to board or inspect them.
  • The guidance follows a Chinese maritime traffic-control operation east of Taiwan, where Beijing says it inspected 198 vessels and corrected three.
  • Taiwan reported more than 100 Chinese official vessels around the island last month, up from 44 in May and 40 in April.

Taiwan has told its vessels not to comply with possible boarding and inspection requests from China’s coast guard, as maritime activity by Beijing increases east of the island.

Hsieh Ching-chin, deputy head of Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration, said the government had instructed Taiwanese ships to notify the island’s coast guard immediately, move toward its patrol vessels and refuse Chinese coast guard demands. If a situation became urgent, he said, Taiwanese patrol boats would position themselves between the two vessels.

Notify us immediately, head toward our patrol vessels and do not comply with the Chinese coast guard’s demands.

· Hsieh Ching-chinTaiwan’s Coast Guard Administration deputy head described the instructions given to Taiwanese vessels.

Hsieh said China had no jurisdiction in Taiwan’s eastern waters. His comments came weeks after Beijing launched what it called a special maritime traffic-control operation in the area. China said the operation responded to plans by Japan and the Philippines to negotiate the delimitation of their exclusive economic zones and continental shelves.

If the situation is urgent, the CGA patrol vessels will position themselves between the two ships.

· Hsieh Ching-chinHe described how Taiwan’s patrol boats would respond to a confrontation.

According to China’s Transport Ministry, the operation ran from June 6 to 10 and involved inspections of 198 vessels, with three vessels “corrected.” Taiwan’s Defense Ministry recorded more than 100 Chinese official vessels around the island last month, compared with 44 in May and 40 in April.

Beijing considers Taiwan an “inalienable part” of Chinese territory and has not ruled out using force to take control of the island. Taiwan’s government rejects that position and says only the island’s 23 million people have the right to decide its political future.

China does not have jurisdiction in Taiwan’s eastern waters.

· Hsieh Ching-chinHe justified Taiwan’s instruction that its vessels should reject Chinese boarding requests.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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