China's coast guard aggression poses new regional threat: Joseph Wu

Taipei, Aug. 3 (CNA) National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) has accused China of using its coast guard and other official vessels to threaten not only Taiwan but the broader Indo-Pacific.

"The threat posed by China is toward the whole region," Wu said in an English-language interview with Nikkei Asia published Monday.

The entire First Island Chain, stretching from Japan southward through Taiwan to the Philippines and Malaysia, is facing increasing maritime aggression, he said.

Wu added that Taiwan's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems have detected a significant increase in Chinese official vessel activity in the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, the western Pacific and the South China Sea.

Wu's comments came after China launched a series of "special maritime law enforcement operations" in waters east of Taiwan in June. Beijing said the operations were a response to Japan and the Philippines launching bilateral talks on maritime boundary delimitation in the area, which China claimed infringed on its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory. It also claims most of the South China Sea, despite a 2016 international arbitral tribunal ruling that its maritime claims have no legal basis under international law.

According to Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA), Chinese coast guard and other official vessels have been operating in waters east of Taiwan and around Taiwan-controlled islands in the South China Sea in recent weeks.

The vessels have also broadcast radio warnings ordering passing merchant ships to leave the area.

In response, the CGA has routinely dispatched patrol vessels to monitor the Chinese ships and ordered them to leave whenever they enter Taiwan's restricted waters.

In the interview, Wu said Taiwan is taking steps to address the challenges posed by Chinese official vessels operating in surrounding waters.

He said the government has established a cross-agency mechanism to counter what he described as China's expansionism, with one objective being to share Taiwan's experience with other countries to help build a united front.

In recent months, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the State Department have criticized China's deployment of coast guard vessels to waters near Taiwan, saying the operations undermine regional stability.

A social media post by the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan, showing U.S. and Taiwanese coast guard vessels sailing in formation late last month also demonstrated Washington's commitment to working with Taipei to promote regional peace and stability amid Chinese aggression, according to scholars interviewed by CNA.

The de facto embassies of the United Kingdom, Germany and France in Taiwan also issued a joint statement on June 24 expressing concern over China's "special maritime law enforcement operations" in waters east of Taiwan, saying the actions threatened regional stability.