Chinese coast guard ushered out of waters near Taiwan's Dongsha Island

Taipei, June 22 (CNA) Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said it took responsive measures Sunday that resulted in an intruding Chinese coast guard ship leaving Taiwan-controlled restricted waters off Dongsha Island in the South China Sea.

The China Coast Guard ship 3302, which had entered waters west-northwest of Dongsha Island, left at 6:10 a.m. on Sunday after the 1,853-tonne CGA cutter Hsun Hu No. 7 and 5,919-tonne Yunlin were dispatched to shadow the vessel and broadcast warnings, the CGA said in a statement.

The CGA condemned China's intrusions into waters off Dongsha Island, which was designated as the site of Taiwan's first marine national park in 2007.

The latest intrusion into Dongsha Island was the 11th of its kind this year by a Chinese official ship, according to the CGA.

The CGA noted that the trespassing Chinese coast guard ships turned off their automatic identification system (AIS) during some of the intrusions, making them difficult to track -- a maneuver of "gray zone" activities, coercive actions that stop short of open conflict.

The CGA said it detected another 111 intrusions into the area by 31 Chinese fishing boats during the same period and seized seven of those vessels.

Some of the trespassing fishing boats were seen operating in concert with Chinese coast guard ships near the Dongsha Atoll, an ecologically rich marine wildlife protection zone where fishing and angling are prohibited, according to the CGA.

China should step up control of its fishing vessels and not allow them to engage in illegal fishing activities outside its fishing grounds, especially when such actions gravely threaten marine ecology, the CGA said.

Sunday's incident came on the heels of three intrusions by four Chinese coast guard ships into waters off Taiwan's offshore Kinmen Islands on Thursday and Friday, according to the CGA.