The Coast Guard Administration ramped up patrols over the weekend around outlying islands that have seen an increased presence of Chinese vessels, the agency said yesterday, the eve of president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration.
China maintains a near-daily military presence with frequent appearances of fighter jets, drones and naval ships around Taiwan.
It has also over the past few months sent in China Coast Guard ships around Kinmen County.
Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration
The agency yesterday said they have sent out personnel to “patrol all hours of the day and night” around Taiwan’s three major outlying counties: Kinmen, Lienchiang (Matsu) and Penghu.
“In order to ensure the security of the sea area and border safety during the inauguration ceremony, the Ocean Affairs Council’s Coast Guard Administration’s Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch once again implemented a powerful patrol operation ... to closely monitor suspicious targets,” it said in a statement.
“The Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch said that the national security work will not slacken during the important celebrations,” it added.
Kinmen has been the site of ramped up tensions after Lai was elected in the Jan. 13 elections. A deadly fishing incident in February involving a Chinese boat triggered a row between China and Taiwan, which has yet to be resolved.
It was carrying four people and capsized on Feb. 14 near Kinmen while coast guard personnel were pursuing it, leaving two dead.
The agency had defended its actions, saying the boat was within “prohibited waters” and zigzagging before it capsized, but Beijing has accused Taipei of “hiding the truth” about the incident.
China has since stepped up patrols around Kinmen.
At least five formations of official Chinese ships have briefly sailed through Kinmen’s restricted waters this month.
On the eve of Lai’s inauguration, the Ministry of National Defense said it had detected seven Chinese aircraft and seven naval vessels around Taiwan in the 24-hour period until 6am yesterday.
Across the Taiwan Strait in the Chinese seaside city of Pingtan — also home to a military base — reporters yesterday morning saw at least two military transport helicopters fly overhead.
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