Beijing sends largest patrol ship east of Taiwan after Japan-Philippine boundary talks

Beijing has sent a flotilla that includes mainland China’s largest patrol vessel to waters east of Taiwan in response to Japanese-Philippine maritime boundary negotiations. The Ministry of Transport ships are expected to conduct joint patrols with a coastguard formation dispatched to the same waters last Monday. The Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily published a commentary on Sunday that accused Japan and the Philippines, which already have long-running territorial disputes with Beijing, of becoming “a source of trouble” and a risk to regional peace. Late last month, the two countries said they would start formal negotiations to map out the maritime boundaries of their exclusive economic zones and continental shelves – which potentially overlap with Taiwan’s. Beijing denounced the boundary talks as “illegal and invalid”. State news agency Xinhua described the latest patrol as a “necessary action in response to Japan and the Philippines unilaterally announcing the start of maritime boundary negotiations in the waters east of China’s Taiwan island, gravely infringing upon China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests”. It described the patrol as a “special maritime traffic law enforcement operation … to fully exercise the country’s maritime administrative enforcement jurisdiction and strengthen deep-sea patrol enforcement and traffic control capabilities in key waters”. According to Marine Equipment & Government Vessel Information, a social media platform that closely follows Chinese coastguard activity, data from a vessel-tracking system showed that the latest patrol included the Haixun 09, the country’s first 10,000-tonne maritime patrol vessel. It also included the 7,500-tonne hydrographic survey vessel Haixun 08 and two 5,000-tonne ships – the ocean rescue vessel Haixun 06 and the salvage ship Donghaijiu 113. Marine Equipment & Government Vessel Information said the patrol would, “for the first time, see our country’s coastguard and maritime authorities conduct a joint patrol in the exclusive economic zone waters east of Taiwan island – further reinforcing our side’s control over this sea area”. The Chinese coastguard had already said they would start patrolling the waters east of Taiwan last Monday in response to the Japanese-Philippine talks. Data cited by the social media channel said the patrol was still in the area on Saturday. Analysts said the Japanese-Philippine talks about maritime boundaries could be seen in Beijing as a direct challenge to its position on Taiwan. Beijing sees the island as part of China and has never renounced the use of force to reunite it with the mainland. Most countries, including Japan and the Philippines, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state. Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have been on a downward spiral since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in November that an attack on Taiwan could trigger military intervention from Tokyo. Meanwhile, the long-running territorial dispute between Manila and Beijing over the South China Sea has resulted in frequent clashes between the two countries’ coastguards. Japan and the Philippines, both treaty allies of the United States, have been working to strengthen their security ties as Washington focuses on Latin America and its war with Iran. During President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s recent visit to Japan, the two countries agreed to launch formal talks on military intelligence sharing and accelerate the transfer of six used Abukuma-class destroyers to the Philippines. Japanese troops also set foot on Philippine soil for the first time since their World War II occupation during the annual US-Philippine Balikatan exercises in April and May. Such moves have raised concern in Beijing that the two countries – which form part of the first island chain that blocks mainland China’s access to the Pacific – could restrict access to key areas in the event of a conflict over Taiwan. The People’s Daily commentary said the two countries were stoking Cold War-style “bloc confrontation” and “becoming a source of trouble threatening peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific”. The article was written under the pen name Zhong Sheng, a homonym for “Voice of China” that is often used to set out Beijing’s views on foreign policy. It accused the Philippines of seeking to use Japanese resources to pursue illegitimate maritime claims and inflame external tensions to deflect from domestic governance failures, despite having suffered greatly from Japanese aggression during the second world war. It also accused Manila of “classic geopolitical opportunism” and warned it “not to hitch itself to another country’s war chariot”. “This short-sighted approach is pushing the Philippines itself into an extremely dangerous position,” the article said. It added that Japan should be “cautious in words and deeds”.

Beijing sends largest patrol ship east of Taiwan after Japan-Philippine boundary talks

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Communist Party mouthpiece warns the two countries are becoming a ‘source of trouble’ and putting regional peace at risk

Communist Party mouthpiece warns the two countries are becoming a ‘source of trouble’ and putting regional peace at risk