Chinese Coast Guard Vessels Cross Taiwan Strait Median Line

Taiwan's coast guard is on alert after three Chinese government ships crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait.

Transcript

00:00The Coast Guard is stepping up monitoring of Chinese ships operating around the Taiwan Strait.

00:06That's after three of China's Coast Guard vessels crossed the unofficial line between the two countries.

00:13Rick Glowart is following the story for us from the north coast of Taiwan.

00:18Rick, what do we know about this incident?

00:23Well, quite a lot actually.

00:25Both sides have been pretty transparent about what went on across the median line,

00:30the unofficial line that separates the Chinese side and the Taiwan side of the Taiwan Strait.

00:36China's state media has released a video of two Coast Guard vessels and one emergency vessel

00:43that went on a 30-hour mission and went three nautical miles over that sensitive median line.

00:49Taiwan's Coast Guard meanwhile has confirmed that this mission took place

00:54and that it monitored and said that they are determined to protect Taiwan's sovereignty.

00:59Of course, confrontations at sea between Taiwan and China are on the rise.

01:04This is as China continues to throw its weight about in the region to assert its claims over Taiwan.

01:12And you might remember earlier this year there was that deadly incident in Jinmen,

01:16an outlying island of Taiwan close to the Chinese coast,

01:19where a Coast Guard chased by the Taiwanese landed with two Chinese nationals dying.

01:25Since then, China has said that it will be enforcing its own maritime law in waters administered by Taiwan.

01:33Taiwan in response has said that it will boost its patrols and that it is ready to protect its sovereignty.

01:41So Rick, should we be expecting more confrontations at sea like this?

01:47Well, we may well see more of this, of course, because China's fishing season has just reopened.

01:55As we speak, tens of thousands of fishing vessels are leaving Chinese ports.

02:00They're heading out into the South China Sea, but they're also heading into the waters near Taiwan.

02:05Taiwan's Coast Guard has already said that it's going to be upping its patrols

02:09to check that these boats do not encroach on Taiwan's waters.

02:13And this is all seen as part of China's grey zone warfare tactics.

02:18That's actions that China takes to intimidate Taiwan to push its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan

02:25without actually resorting to military conflict.

02:28And, of course, this sort of thing, you know, these Chinese boats in Taiwan's waters,

02:32puts Taiwan in a very difficult position.

02:35It's got a very delicate balancing act now to make sure that it does assert its sovereignty,

02:40stand its ground, but without causing an incident that China could use to escalate and even cause a conflict.