Taiwan monitors China coast guard ships east of island

Taiwan said Friday it had deployed vessels to monitor two China Coast Guard ships east of the island, as Beijing asserted authority over waters in the Western Pacific.

Taiwan's coast guard said the Chinese ships were “stationary and drifting” separately about 151 nautical miles, or 280 kilometres, east of Orchid Island and 43 nautical miles northeast of the island, which lies off Taiwan's southeast coast.

Taiwan said its Coast Guard Administration vessel Taipei and other ships were continuously monitoring them. It described the Chinese patrols as “pseudo-law enforcement”.

Chinese state media said the China Coast Guard had carried out a “routine law enforcement patrol in the waters east of China's Taiwan Island”. Coast guard spokesperson Jiang Lue was quoted as saying the force would continue patrols in waters China says are under its jurisdiction.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and says waters around the island fall under its jurisdiction. Taipei rejects those claims.

Chinese ships began patrols last month in an area of the Western Pacific near Taiwan's east coast, which Taiwan called “provocative” and “expansionism in disguise”. China said the patrols followed talks between Japan and the Philippines on drawing a boundary in the area, which Beijing called illegal.