Taiwan closely monitoring Chinese coast guard vessels in overlapping EEZs

Taipei, Sept. 3 (CNA) Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said Thursday it was closely monitoring two China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels operating off Taiwan's east coast in an area where the exclusive economic zones of Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines overlap.

The CGA said in a statement that it had dispatched the patrol vessel Chi An to shadow the CCG vessels Putuoshan and Daishan, which were "loitering" 105 nautical miles and 74 nautical miles east of Green Island, respectively.

China has stepped up activity by its coast guard and research vessels in waters east of Taiwan since Tokyo and Manila announced in May that they would begin talks over an area where the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines overlap and which is also claimed by China.

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged Tokyo and Manila to include Taipei in any future EEZ talks.

The CGA also rejected the CCG's claim that the two Chinese vessels were conducting "routine law-enforcement patrols" in waters east of "China's Taiwan Island."

"The Republic of China, Taiwan, and the PRC are mutually exclusive," the CGA said.

It said the CCG's claim therefore ran counter to international law and formed part of China's "expansionist" efforts and cognitive warfare against Taiwan.