Taiwan decries Chinese coast guard 'harassment' off Kinmen

Taipei, July 30 (CNA) Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) on Wednesday condemned China for sending coastguard ships into Taiwan-controlled waters off Kinmen County for two days straight, branding the actions as "harassment."

The intrusions began at 3 p.m. Tuesday when China Coast Guard vessels 14605, 14529, 14608, and 14513 sailed into the "restricted waters" off the island county of Kinmen, approaching east-southeast of Liaoluo Bay, the CGA's Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch said in a statement on Wednesday.

At 9 a.m. Wednesday, the four ships again trespassed into the area and turned off their automatic identification systems in an apparent attempt to evade pursuit, according to the statement.

On both days, the CGA said, it deployed four patrol boats to shadow the intruding ships and broadcast radio warnings, demanding that the Chinese vessels turn around and leave.

On each occasion, the incursions lasted for two hours, according to the CGA.

The China Coast Guard said on Wednesday that it was "legally conducting a routine patrol," but the CGA deemed the actions as "routine harassment."

"The Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch will continue to maintain a high level of surveillance, response, and deployment capabilities to monitor and track the movements of Chinese Coast Guard vessels," the CGA said.

"It will uphold a firm law enforcement stance and respond comprehensively to safeguard national sovereignty and maritime security," the CGA added.

Due to the proximity between Kinmen County and the Chinese city of Xiamen, China's territorial waters encompass all of Kinmen, leaving Taiwan with a compromise measure of demarcating "prohibited" and "restricted" waters around the Kinmen Islands that extend 1,500 to 10,000 meters from the shorelines of the archipelago.