Taiwan’s navy will support patrols around the Taipei-controlled Dongsha Islands after mainland Chinese coastguard activity near the South China Sea atoll surged over the past year.
The activity has fuelled concerns in Taipei that Beijing is using the remote outpost to test Taiwan’s responses and refine its grey-zone tactics.
Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration said mainland Chinese coastguard vessels had appeared around the atoll 39 times since February last year, compared with only occasional transits in previous years.
On Monday, Taiwan’s defence minister, Wellington Koo Li-hsiung, said the island’s coastguard would remain the primary force responding to mainland Chinese activity around the Dongsha Islands, which are also called the Pratas Islands.
“The navy will provide necessary assistance to the coastguard,” Koo said without elaborating.
Koo added that Taiwan’s defence ministry and coastguard would “continue to use joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to monitor developments around the Taiwan Strait and surrounding waters”.
Ministry officials have said that by increasing its activities around the Dongsha Islands, Beijing aimed to test Taiwan’s responses, expand its presence in the area and prepare for possible future actions.
The latest confrontation came on May 23, when the 5,500-tonne China Coast Guard vessel CCG-3501 approached the Dongsha Islands and entered waters that Taiwan considers restricted.
In response, Taiwan’s coastguard dispatched its 1,000-tonne patrol vessel Taichung to intercept the CCG-3501 after assessing that it was likely to enter the area.
What followed was a 34-hour stand-off in which the two vessels shadowed each other at close range while exchanging rival claims to the atoll over the radio.
According to the Taiwanese coastguard, the mainland Chinese vessel declared that the People’s Republic of China had sovereignty and jurisdiction over the Dongsha Islands and was conducting a routine patrol mission.
Taiwan’s coastguard ordered the vessel to leave and accused Beijing of undermining regional peace.
The stand-off ended on May 24, when the CCG-3501 departed the area west of the Dongsha Islands.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary.
Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-ruled island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
The encounter was one of several major incidents reported by Taiwan’s coastguard over the past year.
In July last year, during Taiwan’s annual Han Kuang military exercises, two mainland Chinese coastguard vessels approached the Dongsha Islands while operating with their automatic identification system switched off.
Taiwanese authorities said they could not rule out the possibility that Beijing was testing maritime deployments during the drills, the island’s largest of the year.
Other incidents included the entry of a mainland Chinese fishing vessel into waters near the Dongsha Islands in September last year and the appearance of a People’s Liberation Army surveillance drone over the atoll during a Taiwanese live-fire exercise in January.
The increased activity has drawn political attention in Taipei.
Liao Hsien-hsiang, a lawmaker of the main opposition party Kuomintang and co-chair of the legislature’s interior affairs committee, has scheduled a visit to the Dongsha Islands on July 9 as a demonstration of exercising Taiwan’s rightful claim over the islands.
During the visit, lawmakers are expected to inspect coastguard deployments, review operations under the Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) and receive briefings on conservation efforts there. The OAC plans, coordinates and implements Taiwan’s maritime policies.
KMT legislator Chang Chih-lun described the trip as a “routine inspection” and said he supported the OAC’s handling of maritime disputes in recent years.
Analysts said the rise in mainland Chinese activity around the Dongsha Islands pointed to a broader strategic trend.
Chou Yu-ping, a retired Taiwanese air force colonel and former missile command planner, said the Dongsha Islands were increasingly becoming a “stress-testing ground” for Beijing to test Taiwan’s red lines and assess regional reactions.
“What appears to be a law enforcement-level confrontation is gradually approaching a critical point where it could spiral out of control,” Chou added.
Although the Dongsha Islands are small and lack natural defensive advantages, Chou said their location at the northern edge of the South China Sea made the atoll strategically important.
The Dongsha Islands sit near the junction of the South China Sea, the Bashi Channel and the first island chain linking Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.
The first island chain runs along East Asia’s coastline, from the Kuril Islands through Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines down to Borneo. This marks mainland China’s near seas from the wider Pacific Ocean.
If the Dongsha Islands were occupied and militarised, future conflict scenarios could extend beyond the Taiwan Strait and allow Beijing to exert pressure on Taiwan from both the north and the south, Chou said.
Lin Ying-yu, a professor of strategic studies at Tamkang University in New Taipei City, said Beijing was increasingly using coastguard operations to reinforce its legal and political claims around Taiwan.
By deploying coastguard rather than naval vessels, Beijing could frame its activities as domestic law-enforcement actions while advancing its sovereignty narrative in the Taiwan Strait, around Taiwan and near the Dongsha, Lin explained.
“The Chinese coastguard handles internal law enforcement, while the Chinese navy deals with external threats,” he said. “Using coastguard vessels helps Beijing portray these activities as domestic law-enforcement operations.”
Lin said the challenge extended beyond Taiwan.
“Chinese coastguard activities affect not only Taiwan but also the South China Sea and the East China Sea,” he said. “Taiwan can use this opportunity to strengthen cooperation with other countries facing similar challenges.” -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
