Taiwan has ordered Chinese coast guard ships to “please leave” restricted waters. According to a Reuters report, four Chinese coast guard ships have come to frontlines islands close to Taiwan.
“You have entered our country’s restricted waters. Please turn around immediately,” a Taiwan official said via radio in a broadcast message to the Chinese counterparts according to the report.
The Chinese ships were near the Kinmen Islands which are a group of islands governed by Republic of China. In February, according to an Al Jazeera report, Chinese Coast Guard officials stepped aboard a Taiwanese tourist cruise ship causing panic. The incident came after two Chinese fishermen who drowned after being chased by China’s Coast guard.
Taiwanese coast guard officials say that Chinese ships were spotted in the same area on Friday as well.
The latest incident is surprising as Taiwan and China had cooperated to rescue a Chinese fisherman who was drowning when his ship overturned on Friday according to Reuters.
There has been no official comment from China’s Coast Guard.
Last week, Taiwan’s Mainland Council, the country’s top policy-making body urged China to maintain the “status quo” around waters near Taiwan’s islands.
“The current situation across the Strait should be controllable,” the council’s deputy head and spokesperson Jan Jyh-horng told a press conference.
Jan also urged China to revive CBMs and allow Chinese students and tourists to visit the island, an arrangement suspended after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tensions have arisen especially after elections were held in Taiwan in January this year when vice-president Lai Ching-Te was elected president. He will take office in May Between Lai who says he will champion Taiwan’s sovereignty, and President Xi who said that he will take back Taiwan by force if necessary, there seems little scope for common ground.
President Biden has stated that the US remains committed to the One-China policy but warned in October 2022 that Washington would intervene militarily if required if China seeks to take Taiwan by force.
In January, the US Navy sailed its first warship through the Taiwan Straits just after the Taiwanese elections.
