Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Friday that dozens of Chinese aircraft have been detected around the island in a 24-hour period, the latest sign of rising tensions between Beijing and Taipei.
The ministry said 36 Chinese military aircraft and six ships were operating around Taiwan before 6 a.m. local time.
In a later statement, the ministry said an additional 26 Chinese military aircraft had been detected. The ministry said it had “monitored the situation and responded accordingly.”
In a June 27 press conference, Senior Colonel Wu Qian, director general of the Information Office of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, was asked about the “many exercises” conducted in the waters around Taiwan. An English transcript of the press conference was released by the ministry on Thursday.
“I suggest the DPP [Democratic Progressive Party] authorities to get used to encircling activities held by the PLA [People’s Liberation Army]. I need to point out that the PLA’s relevant actions and operations are targeted at separatist activities held by the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces, they are by no means targeted at our compatriots in Taiwan,” Wu said.
Taiwanese boat detained earlier
China’s latest provocations near Taiwan come just days after the crew of a Taiwanese fishing boat was detained by the Chinese coast guard while their vessel was operating near an island controlled by Taiwan.
Taiwan’s coast guard says the boat was intercepted by Chinese vessels on Tuesday night near the Kinmen islands, located just a few kilometers off the southern Chinese coastal city of Xiamen.
Taiwan dispatched three patrol boats to assist the fishing boat, but they were blocked by three Chinese vessels. The Taiwanese boats demanded the Chinese vessels release the fishing boat and its crew but said they were warned by the Chinese side not to interfere.
The Taiwanese coast guard says it ended its pursuit to avoid escalating the conflict.
The fishing boat was taken to a nearby Chinese fishing port. The five-person crew includes two Taiwanese nationals and three Indonesians.
Hsieh Ching-chin, deputy director-general of Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration, said Wednesday the incident occurred as China begins its annual fishing moratorium.
He said Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council and Fisheries Agency will “reach out to their Chinese counterparts” and call on the Chinese government “to explain its reasoning and release the crew and their boat in accordance with due procedure, refraining from using political means to handle the situation.”
Incident continues China-Taiwan conflict
Tuesday night’s incident was the latest maritime conflict between Taiwan and China this year.
Two Chinese fishermen drowned in February when their boat capsized as it was fleeing Taiwan’s coast guard after the fishermen entered restricted waters near Kinmen. China responded days later when its coast guard briefly boarded a Taiwanese tourist boat while it was on a sight-seeing trip near Kinman.
“China used to turn a blind eye to Taiwanese fishing vessels” operating around its waters, said Chung Chieh, an associate research fellow at the National Security Division in Taipei. But that “special treatment” is something that Taiwan’s fishermen “no longer enjoy,” he told VOA Mandarin.
China is now citing its “domestic laws” when looking to punish Taiwanese crews “found operating within China’s territorial waters,” according to Chieh. China wants to “establish the fact that it can enforce law among Taiwanese fishers and vessels,” he said. “Such incidents will help consolidate its pursuit of using laws as a weapon of war across the Taiwan Strait.”
Taiwan has been self-governed since the end of China’s civil war in 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces were driven off the mainland by Mao Zedong’s Communists.
But Beijing regards the island of 23 million and its outlying islands as Chinese territory and has been ramping up its threat to achieve that by military force if necessary.
