Smaller fishing vessels to install ID system to prevent incursions

Taipei, Oct. 16 (CNA) Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) will make it compulsory for all fishing vessels with gross tonnages under 20 metric tons to install an automatic identification system (AIS) by 2025 to prevent Chinese speedboat incursions.

CGA Director-General Chang Chung-lung (張忠龍) said his agency has been in talks with the Maritime Port Bureau and the Fisheries Agency to demand that all Taiwanese fishing vessels with lower gross tonnages install an AIS before the end of next year.

All Taiwanese offshore fishing vessels with 20-metric-ton gross tonnages or higher have already installed the AIS system, an automatic tracking system that uses transceivers on ships and is used by vessel traffic services.

According to Chang, having all local fishing vessels install AIS systems will make it easier for CGA personnel to spot non-Taiwanese vessels near harbors and ports.

Chang mentioned the new initiative when asked by ruling Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) what the CGA plans to do to keep Chinese speedboat incursions into Taiwan's harbors from happening.

The CGA is responsible for patrolling Taiwan's waters up to 24 nautical miles from its coast line.

There have been at least four incidents involving Chinese nationals sailing speedboats into a harbor in Taiwan in the past four years without being detected. The most recent case was on Kinmen Island during Monday's People's Liberation Army drills around Taiwan.

Defense experts have repeatedly urged Taiwan's government to be on high alert to similar incursions as these attempts could be part of Chinese government tests of Taiwan's coastal and harbor management.

In September, the Shilin District Court sentenced a Chinese man who sailed a speedboat near the mouth of the Tamsui River in June to eight months in prison for violating Taiwanese immigration law.

The Tamsui incident drew special attention because the Tamsui River is considered a critical strategic location and serves as a gateway to Taipei, the nation's political, economic and social capital, where the Presidential Office and other important government institutions are situated.

The CGA disciplined 10 people for allowing the Chinese speedboat to illegally reach the mouth of the Tamsui River.

At the time, the CGA admitted negligence in its failure to spot the speedboat in question but argued that there were over 30 vessels near Tamsui at that time, which made it difficult to spot the Chinese boat.