The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it detected three China Coast Guard ships off the nation’s east coast on Tuesday last week, and ordered a vessel patrolling waters between Taiwan and Japan to help drive them away.
The statement follows a report yesterday from the Chinese-language Web site RW News, which cited Ministry of National Defense officials as saying that as no CGA ship was able to monitor the Chinese vessels, it dispatched the Chi Yang-class frigate Ning Yang (寧陽艦) to the area, making it the first case in which a military ship was sent to drive away Chinese coast guard boats.
China Coast Guard ships have frequently appeared in waters around Kinmen County and even crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait since two fishers died when their boat capsized while being pursued by Taiwan’s coast guard last month, the report said.
Photo courtesy of the Mainland Affairs Council
The CGA rejected the RW News report, saying it had dispatched the Nantou (南投艦) to monitor the three Chinese coast guard vessels, adding that it had asked the navy to send the Ning Yang to assist if necessary.
“Our surveillance system at 3:50pm on Tuesday last week located three unidentified vessels off the east coast. We then confirmed with the navy that the vessels were China Coast Guard ships Nos. 2303, 2304 and 2305. They were navigating north 53 nautical miles [98.2km] east of the Port of Hualien, 25 nautical miles outside Taiwan’s restricted waters,” it said.
The Nantou at 10pm found that the three Chinese ships were 26 nautical miles southeast of Pengjia Islet (彭佳嶼), the CGA said, adding that they entered Taiwan’s restricted waters to avoid crossing over a fishing net.
The China Coast Guard ships navigated out of Taiwan’s restricted waters after the Nantou asked them to leave, it said.
Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said that the CGA and the defense ministry have been coordinating for years in patrolling the Taiwan Strait and the east coast.
“When an emergency situation happens, all ships on duty must address it,” he said, adding that the military did not overstep the CGA’s authority.
In other news, a Chinese delegation left Kinmen yesterday after failing to reach a settlement with CGA officials over the deaths of the two fishers on Feb. 14.
The delegation’s head, Lee Chao-hui (李朝暉), accused CGA officials of failing to provide convincing explanations about the cause of the incident, adding that CGA officials lied and gave contradictory statements.
The CGA said that the demands from the Chinese delegation were not lawful in Taiwan.
“It is a pity that the two sides failed to reach an agreement. We hope to quickly resolve differences through goodwill and an open attitude,” the administration said.
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