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.
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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.”
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