A flotilla, featuring China’s largest patrol vessel, has been sent to waters east of Taiwan amid Japanese-Philippine maritime boundary negotiations.
The ships, under the Ministry of Transport, are scheduled to conduct joint patrols with a coastguard formation that was recently dispatched to the same region, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, on Sunday came out with a commentary wherein it accused Japan and the Philippines of becoming “a source of trouble” and a risk to regional peace. Notably, the two sides have long-running territorial disputes with China.
Last month, the two nations stated that they will begin formal negotiations to map out the maritime boundaries of their exclusive economic zones and continental shelves that potentially overlap with Taiwan’s. However, China has denounced the boundary talks as “illegal and invalid”.
According to Xinhua, the patrol was a “necessary action in response to Japan and the Philippines unilaterally announcing the start of maritime boundary negotiations in the waters east of China’s Taiwan island, gravely infringing upon China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests”.
Further, the agency described it as a “special maritime traffic law enforcement operation… to fully exercise the country’s maritime administrative enforcement jurisdiction and strengthen deep-sea patrol enforcement and traffic control capabilities in key waters”.
Notably, the patrol includes the Haixun 09, which is China’s first 10,000-tonne maritime patrol vessel, according to Marine Equipment & Government Vessel Information, a social media platform closely monitoring Chinese coastguard activity.
Moreover, it features the 7,500-tonne hydrographic survey vessel Haixun 08 as well as two 5,000-tonne ships, including the ocean rescue vessel Haixun 06 and the salvage ship Donghaijiu 113, South China Morning Post reported.
In a recent post, the social media platform said the patrol would “for the first time,” see China’s coastguard and maritime authorities conduct a “joint patrol in the exclusive economic zone waters east of Taiwan island – further reinforcing our side’s control over this sea area”.
Several nations, such as Japan and the Philippines, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state.
Chinese coastguards informed that they would begin patrolling the waters east of Taiwan last Monday in response to the Japanese-Philippine talks.