Ships flying under Taiwan’s flag off the island country’s east coast should ignore requests from China’s coast guard to come aboard, Taiwanese officials said.
If necessary, Taiwan will act to prevent inspection by the Chinese military, Reuters reported. China has recently deployed coast guard ships off the Taiwanese coast as part of law enforcement and traffic operations. The Chinese government says the moves are in response to upcoming discussions between Japan and the Philippines on water boundaries.
The People’s Republic of China considers democratic Taiwan and the surrounding waters part of China.
Reuters quoted Hsieh Ching-chin, deputy head of Taiwan’s coast guard, as saying “China has no jurisdiction” in the waters of Taiwan and promised to act if China tried to board a Taiwanese vessel. Although China has not made an attempts to board ships in recent months, it has harassed commercial vessels by demanding information about their destinations, worrying U.S., French, German and British officials.
Two years ago, Chinese officers briefly boarded a ship carrying Taiwan tourists.
In recent years, China has been increasingly vocal about its desire to take over Taiwan. Although U.S. intelligence officials now believe it’s unlikely that China will invade Taiwan in 2027, they say it is not going to drop plans for an eventual takeover.
U.S. policy on Taiwan since 1979 has acknowledged China’s claim over the island while taking no official position on Taiwan independence. Despite that ambiguous relationship, the U.S. has sold Taiwan billions of dollars in weapons in the last 47 years.
