China’s launch of regular coast guard patrols in the Taiwan Strait after two Chinese sailors died fleeing from the Taiwanese coast guard is unlikely to trigger an escalation, analysts said yesterday.
Beijing’s actions are aimed at applying pressure on Taipei and signaling its displeasure at president-elect William Lai (賴清德), not to raise the tensions in the Strait, Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said.
The situation in the Taiwan Strait is “not particularly hot” as coast guards in the region have used water cannons and ramming during confrontations with foreign ships on multiple occasions, he said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Taiwan should only deploy its coast guard to deal with provocations from Beijing, Su said, adding that Japan and the Philippines have handled China that way.
The restricted zones around Taiwan’s outlying islands are a buffer between the two countries and evidence of Taiwan’s goodwill, he said, adding that Taipei should respond to China’s bid to trespass into these areas.
The Taiwanese government should make common cause with Japan and the Philippines, which also face Chinese harassment in the waters around them, Su said.
National Policy Foundation associate research fellow Chieh Chung (揭仲) said the sequence of events from the declaration of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office denying the restricted zone in Kinmen to Beijing sending a surveillance vessel into the area reflects a deliberate strategy.
Beijing’s aim is likely to exercise legal warfare to negate Taiwan’s claims and effectuate its control of the waters as the new normal, he said.
China’s coast guard might accompany Chinese fishing boats in their illegal harvests in Taiwanese waters and use the patrols as an excuse to claim that the waters belong to China, Chieh said.
However, the self-restraint displayed by the two sides showed that the recent clashes are not likely to trigger an escalation in the region, he said.
Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General Sun Li-fang (孫立方) said naval and air forces were instructed to use observational equipment to document Chinese military activities.
The armed forces are in the process of increasing the quality and quantity of surveillance devices used by frontline units, he added.
Separately, Democratic Progressive Party spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) yesterday said that Lai told the party’s Central Standing Committee that the government must firmly support the Coast Guard Administration’s mission to enforce maritime laws and regulations.
The aftermath of the capsized Chinese speedboat incident must be handled correctly and should be studied well to prevent such incidents from happening, Lai was quoted by Wu as saying.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said the party supports the government’s rightful enforcement of maritime law, but regrets the loss of life.
The KMT does not wish to see the two sides blame one another and hopes for a reduction of hostility by dialogue, he said.
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