Coast Guard warns off Chinese vessel from Taiwan's restricted waters

Taipei, June 19 (CNA) Taiwan's Coast Guard has warned off a Chinese oceanographic research vessel, the Xiang Yang Hong 22, from its restricted waters after initially warning it in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said Friday.

At 11:35 p.m. Thursday, the vessel entered Taiwan's restricted waters (which extend 12 to 24 nautical miles from Taiwan's coast) off the coast of Su'ao in Yilan County, the CGA said.

The Coast Guard dispatched the 600-tonne-class Lanyu patrol vessel and the 100-tonne-class patrol boat PP-10077 to shadow the Chinese ship and issue radio warnings ordering it to leave.

According to video footage released by the CGA, the crew of the Lanyu radioed Xiang Yang Hong 22 and said China has no sovereignty over waters off Taiwan's east coast and demanded that the vessel depart immediately.

The two Taiwanese vessels then flanked the Chinese research ship and carried out maneuvers designed to generate waves and disrupt its operations, the CGA said in a statement.

At 4:20 a.m., Xiang Yang Hong 22 left Taiwan's restricted waters and continued north until it reached a position 35 nautical miles northeast of Pengjia Islet and moved beyond the range of the Lanyu's radar system, according to the agency.

A few hours earlier, at 8 p.m., the Lanyu spotted the Xiang Yang Hong 22 41 nautical miles east of Hualien and issued similar warnings to leave the country's exclusive economic zone, according to an earlier CGA statement.

The research vessel then left, heading north at a speed of 15 knots before entering the restricted waters off Su'ao, the CGA said.

China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday that the vessel, Xiang Yang Hong 22, was conducting a maritime ecological survey in waters east of Taiwan.

The CGA accused China, however, of using government and research vessels to navigate in Taiwan's EEZ "as a pretext to engage in hegemonic expansion."

"Our country has sovereign rights and jurisdiction in its eastern exclusive economic zone, and China's attempts to harass Taiwan through maritime navigation or scientific research cannot change this indisputable fact," the CGA said.

The incident also came after Tokyo and Manila announced in late May that they would begin talks on an area where the EEZs of Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines overlap.

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs later urged the two countries to include Taipei in the negotiations.

According to the CGA, the Xiang Yang Hong 22 had been operating in waters off Taiwan's east and southern coast for over a week.

It left Zhoushan in Zhejiang Province on June 10 and transited waters 52 nautical miles east of Miyako Island the following day, according to the CGA.

From June 12 to June 15, the vessel sailed to an area 448 nautical miles east-southeast of Orchid Island, but it then returned north and had since been operating between Yonaguni Island and Taiwan's EEZ off of its eastern coast, the agency said.

The CGA said it would continue monitoring the vessel's movements.