China has been carrying out regular “gray zone” activities around the first island chain, particularly near Kinmen, the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) and Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), the Nikkei Asia reported. A former soldier of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) even managed to illegally enter Taiwan’s Tamsui River.
Everyone thinks Taiwan is safe, because the Taiwan Strait is wide and choppy, making it very hard for China to attack Taiwan, but now a Chinese man has safely crossed the Strait in a boat, causing nationwide concern.
The incidents that happened in Kinmen and the Tamsui River are no coincidence. As China steps up its “gray zone” activities, Taiwan’s national security agencies must be more alert to any moves from Beijing. We should never let our guard down, and we must take countermeasures.
Chinese vessels have recently been spotted near the Diaoyutai Islands up to 1,200 times and acted aggressively toward Japanese ships, the Nikkei Asia said.
China’s coast guard has also used high-pressure water cannons against Philippine vessels near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, and Chinese vessels have attempted to collide with Taiwanese ships off Kinmen to avoid inspection by the coast guard.
China tends to escalate tensions in the region and tests other countries’ reaction to such incidents.
In the Tamsui River incident, the Chinese man is thought to have sailed a motorboat from Fuzhou in China to Taiwan, but the exact place of departure remains unknown. Did he really cross the Taiwan Strait with a tiny motorboat, or did he launch from a bigger ship? Did a PLA vessel disguised as a fishing boat help him cross the sea?
We are no longer living in an era where anti-communists would flee to Taiwan for survival, so there is no reason for a Chinese man to cross the Strait in a small boat.
What made him do it? What does China want? Is it testing Taiwan’s limits? If so, how can Taiwan keep its national defense strategies secret?
Chinese espionage cases show Beijing is focused on deploying its armed forces at the Tamsui River estuary. We do not know whether our government has rearranged its deployment to keep military secrets hidden from our enemy. However, we should bear in mind that a century ago, the Japanese military landed on northern Taiwan and rapidly breached the walls of Taipei.
Similarly, if China chose the Tamsui River as the first step of a decapitation strike, it could easily break into Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), making Taiwan’s stronghold in the adjacent Boai Special Zone extremely vulnerable.
Government agencies and the public worry about decapitation strikes by China’s air force, but as Taiwan is surrounded by the sea, with many river estuaries, we cannot ignore the possibility of an invasion by sea, and “gray zone” activities escalating into war.
Taiwan and China still have people-to-people exchanges, which are welcome when based on reciprocity, but that does not mean we should take national security risks lightly.
Throughout history, conflicts have begun with confrontations between the military and the people. When China’s Taiwan Affairs Office says Taiwan has nothing to worry about, we should be even more worried.
The US believes China could wage a war to unify Taiwan by 2027. Until then, China would try every trick to test our limits.
The government must act. We must not get used to China’s incursions and we must always be cautious. The government should reinforce national solidarity to resist our enemy and ensure a safe and happy life for all Taiwanese.
Chiu Chih-wei is a Democratic Progressive Party legislator.
Translated by Hsieh Yi-ching
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