China’s claim that the waters between Taiwan’s Kinmen County and China’s Xiamen are not a restricted area is an example of Beijing employing “gray zone” tactics to ratchet up pressure against Taipei, an expert said yesterday.
National Defense and Security Research research fellow Shen Ming-shih (沈明室) said the once-held tacit understanding between China and Taiwan that the waters around Kinmen, Lienchiang County (the Matsu islands) and other outlying islands are “restricted” or “prohibited” appears to be broken.
“Restricted” or “prohibited” waters refer to maritime areas controlled by Taiwan which, under Taiwanese law, it has the right to defend.
Photo: Bloomberg
The topic has become a point of contention after a speedboat from China’s Fujian Province on Wednesday capsized off the coast of Kinmen while being pursued by Taiwanese authorities, resulting in two fatalities.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Saturday said “fishermen on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have been operating in traditional fishing areas around Xiamen-Kinmen since ancient times, and there is no such thing as prohibited or restricted waters.”
Shen said the announcement was equivalent to China’s previous declaration that there was no median line of the Taiwan Strait and was a way of doubling down on its claim that waters around Kinmen and Matsu are its territorial waters.
Beijing was also trying to dismiss the issue of Chinese boats illegally fishing in Taiwan’s waters, Shen said, adding that Beijing’s actions could be an attempt to legitimize future gray zone tactics or military action.
Separately, a Taiwanese official familiar with cross-strait affairs, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that China would likely increase the number of incursions into Taiwan’s waters.
China last month used political pressure to ensure that Indonesia hosted the Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship instead of Taiwan, unilaterally adjusted the flight path of commercial route M503 and last week making an incursion into restricted waters near Kinmen County using a civilian speedboat, the official said.
“The redirected flight path is particularly worrisome, because flights on routes W122 and W123 from Fuzhou and Xiamen connect with M503, and will now fly along the median line of the Taiwan Strait,” the source said, adding that military aircraft could use civilian flights as cover, which would get them closer to Taiwan proper and reduce the time that Taiwan has to respond to an attack.
“China is changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and increasing Taiwan’s defense burden,” the official said. “Moving forward we are likely to see an increase in gray zone tactics such as the boarding of Taiwanese vessels in the Taiwan Strait by China’s coast guard, and more incursions near the outlying islands using civilian vessels.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by