Taiwan says China maritime operation ‘provocative’

“Taiwan said Monday that China’s maritime operation in waters to the east of the island democracy was “provocative” and “expansionism in disguise”. Photo: Taiwan Presidential Office, via Flickr. Chinese ships are conducting a “law enforcement operation” in response to talks between Japan and the Philippines to draw a boundary in waters to the east of Taiwan, Chinese state media said Saturday. China, which asserts Taiwan is part of its territory, called the talks “illegal” and has claimed exclusive control over the waters. “It’s nothing but expansionism in disguise that threatens regional peace & stability,” Taiwan’s National Security Council chief Joseph Wu wrote on X. Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu speaks to HKFP at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 14. Photo: MOFA (Taiwan R.O.C). Defence Minister Wellington Koo said the Chinese actions were “provocative”. Koo told reporters that the move was a “cognitive warfare operation” designed to claim that the waters off Taiwan’s east coast fell within China’s “enforcement jurisdiction”. Taiwan’s coast guard has deployed seven patrol vessels to monitor the Chinese ships. The Taiwanese vessels expelled four Chinese ships from waters off the island’s southernmost tip on Sunday. The ships have since moved further east, Taiwan’s coast guard said Monday, after an hours-long standoff.

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