Taiwan Coast Guard refutes China Coast Guard 'law enforcement' claims

Taipei, March 25 (CNA) Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has refuted a claim made by the China Coast Guard that its ships have been conducting "law enforcement patrols" in the waters near Taiwan's outlying Kinmen County.

According to a statement from the CGA's Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch on Tuesday, China Coast Guard incursions into the area recently have not been "law enforcement patrols" but instead are acts of "malicious harassment" that "affect the atmosphere in the Taiwan Strait and undermine regional peace and stability."

The CGA was responding to a news release from the China Coast Guard earlier in the day that said its Fujian branch had been "carrying out regular law enforcement patrols in waters near Kinmen according to the law."

In the most recent incident, four China Coast Guard vessels -- identified by their serial numbers 14608, 14517, 14605, and 14609 -- sailed into restricted waters south of Kinmen County around 2:50 p.m. on Tuesday, the CGA said.

The Chinese ships entered restricted waters in four different places, prompting the deployment of four Taiwanese patrol boats, according to the CGA.

The Taiwanese coast guard personnel ignored transmissions from the Chinese ships, and instead broadcast instructions for them to leave the area, the statement added.

The CGA reported that the Chinese ships had been successfully "driven out" of Kinmen's restricted waters by 5 p.m.

The agency further noted that over the past year, China Coast Guard vessels have entered Kinmen's waters 64 times, with an average of four incursions per month, each lasting about two hours.

Since the "Kinmen Incident" on Feb. 14, 2024, the China Coast Guard has made repeated incursions into restricted waters around the outlying island county despite a memorandum of understanding signed by both sides on July 30, the CGA said.

In that incident, a Chinese motorboat capsized after colliding with a CGA vessel, resulting in the deaths of two of its four Chinese crew members.

The People's Republic of China claims Taiwan -- including the Kinmen islands located just 2 kilometers from China -- as its territory, despite having never ruled it.