Taiwan Accuses China Patrol of East-Coast Harassment — SkimNews
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- China’s Coast Guard sent two ships on the latest east-coast patrol announced Oct. 31, and Taiwan sent its own ships to monitor them.
- China has stepped up regular Coast Guard patrols off Taiwan’s east coast since June, a pattern Taipei characterizes as harassment and a fictional assertion of jurisdiction.
- China’s Coast Guard broadcast a radio message saying it was carrying out law enforcement and offering help; state-media footage showed an unidentified fishing trawler without naming the recipient, while Taiwan’s Coast Guard called the contact a violation of international law and rejected Beijing’s jurisdiction east of Taiwan.
- Taiwan said officials believe the patrols are practice for a potential maritime blockade using overlapping military, paramilitary and civilian assets; Taipei identifies east-coast waters as critical to wartime supply routes from allies.
- Pratas Islands drew another Chinese Coast Guard ship on Oct. 31, and Taiwan said it had expelled Chinese vessels from Pratas waters 13 times in 2026.
- Pratas Islands have no permanent civilian population and lie more than 400 km from Taiwan; security experts cited that distance as making the outposts vulnerable to Chinese attack.
Why it matters: Taiwan’s wartime supply routes from allies are the material stake: Taipei identifies the east coast as critical, yet Beijing is conducting regular patrols there and has already prompted 13 Taiwanese expulsions at Pratas in 2026. That turns a sovereignty dispute into recurring operational pressure on two strategically important maritime areas.
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