Taiwan's Coast Guard said on Sunday that it had confronted and driven off 16 Chinese coast guard, research and fishing vessels that Taipei accuses of taking part in simultaneous "maritime harassment" operations.
According to a statement from the Taiwan Coast Guard, an "unusually large" number of Chinese vessels took part in coordinated activity around Taiwan's main island and Pratas Island (also known as Dongsha), a disputed island to the southwest. Four of the vessels identified were fishing boats.
Taiwan's Coast Guard described the simultaneous operations as "hybrid warfare," saying its vessels "took strong, immediate action to effectively neutralize the threats." Taipei accuses Beijing of "seeking to unilaterally change the status quo" in the Taiwan Strait and of creating a "false impression of jurisdiction."
According to some reports, several of the vessels entered restricted waters off Taiwan.
Mounting maritime pressure
Beijing says Taiwan and Pratas are part of its territory and asserts jurisdiction over the surrounding waters, which Taipei rejects. China has long threatened to use force to bring Taiwan back under its control.
In a separate incident on October 1, Taiwan's Coast Guard fired water cannon at a Chinese recreational fishing boat near Pratas, which lies between Taiwan and the mainland in waters Beijing claims as its own.
China has stepped up maritime pressure on Taiwan in recent months. According to official Taiwanese data, Beijing deployed a record 244 coast guard, scientific research and other vessels around Taiwan's main island in July, compared with just 58 in the same month last year.
In the first 21 days of August, Taiwan detected 152 vessels, most of them from the Chinese Coast Guard, but also including fishing boats and research vessels.
China also sends warships around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, though those vessels are counted separately.
