TAIPEI — Taiwanese vessels operating off the island’s eastern shoreline have been directed to refuse any attempts by Chinese coast guard ships to board or inspect them, a top Taiwanese official announced Wednesday. Taiwan’s coast guard stands ready to physically step in and block such encounters if they occur.
China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as part of its own territory, deployed coast guard vessels into the waters east of Taiwan last month. Beijing described the mission as a “special maritime traffic law-enforcement operation,” a move that drew sharp criticism from Taipei.
According to Chinese officials, the patrol was triggered by a joint announcement from Japan and the Philippines that the two countries would begin formal discussions about their shared maritime boundaries — a development Beijing interpreted as encroaching on waters it considers Chinese near Taiwan.
Appearing before lawmakers in parliament, Hsieh Ching-chin, the deputy head of Taiwan’s Coast Guard, laid out how ships should respond if confronted. He said vessels should alert Taiwan’s Coast Guard and “not respond to the so-called boarding inspections” carried out by Chinese ships.
Hsieh went further, stating: “If the situation is urgent, Coast Guard vessels will sail between the two ships to separate them,” referring to Taiwanese vessels facing Chinese pressure.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not reply when asked for a response. Beijing has consistently maintained that the waters surrounding Taiwan are Chinese and that Taipei holds no sovereign authority of its own.
Hsieh also addressed situations involving foreign-flagged vessels within Taiwan’s waters, saying that “in order to defend our national sovereignty and maintain order in our waters, we will intervene” if China attempts to assert authority there. He was direct in his conclusion: “In our waters, China has no jurisdiction.”
During last month’s Chinese patrol, neither side reported any actual boarding attempts. However, Taiwan accused the Chinese coast guard ships of “harassing” commercial vessels by demanding information about where they came from and where they were headed, while asserting Chinese jurisdiction over the area.
This is not the first time such tensions have arisen. In 2024, Chinese coast guard personnel briefly boarded a Taiwanese tourist boat near Taiwan-controlled islands located close to China’s coastline.
China’s growing patrol activity off Taiwan’s eastern coast has raised concerns from the United States, Britain, France, and Germany.
