Taiwan coast guard says tracking Chinese ships off east of island

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Taipei: Taiwan's coast guard has deployed two specialized monitoring vessels to actively track Chinese ships executing unilateral patrols off the island's eastern coast.

The deployment follows statements from Beijing declaring it has launched ongoing maritime "law enforcement patrols" within what it describes as its legal jurisdictional waters.

The immediate standoff occurred roughly 54 nautical miles off Taiwan's coast, where Taiwanese forces are sailing alongside a Chinese task force led by the Xiushan ship formation.

Taipei has firmly rejected Beijing's territorial assertions, branding the continuous maritime maneuvers as highly provocative and labeling them as expansionism in disguise.

According to Chinese state media, Beijing initiated these coast guard operations in response to recent boundary talks between Japan and the Philippines. China has called those bilateral negotiations illegal, using them as a pretext to claim exclusive authority over the strategic regional waters.

While Taiwan maintains it possesses absolute sovereign rights over its Exclusive Economic Zone, analysts warn China is utilizing coast guard assets as gray-zone tactics.

By relying on civilian maritime enforcement rather than direct military fleets, Beijing aims to gradually gain control over commercial shipping.