Taipei
Taiwan’s government took a small group of foreign lawmakers on a Coast Guard ship around sensitive Taiwan-controlled islands next to the Chinese coast on Thursday, pushing back against China’s Coast Guard whose patrols have angered Taipei.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and recognises no claims of sovereignty or maritime jurisdiction by Taipei.
In 2024, China’s Coast Guard began regular patrols around Taiwan’s Kinmen islands, which face China’s Xiamen and Quanzhou cities, following the death of two Chinese nationals fleeing Taiwan’s Coast Guard after entering restricted waters.
Since last month, China’s Coast Guard has also patrolled in waters off Taiwan’s east coast in what it said was a law enforcement operation – a move that sparked concern in the U.S., Britain, France and Germany, and infuriated Taipei.
On board the Taiwan Coast Guard ship PP-10081 for a 90-minute tour in waters around the Kinmen islands were seven foreign lawmakers and two Taiwanese members of parliament.
The trip, believed to be the first of its kind, underscores Taiwan’s efforts to draw international attention to the dispute at a time when China’s expanding maritime patrols are testing Taiwan’s ability to defend its waters and raising alarm among some Western governments.
The PP-10081 is one of several 100-ton patrol ships stationed in Kinmen. It did not carry any weapons on deck, and the crew were not visibly armed.
Encounters between Taiwanese and Chinese Coast Guard vessels around Kinmen are typically limited to radio exchanges and verbal warnings.
Britain’s Tom Tugendhat, a former security minister and a strident China critic, told Reuters on the boat that being there was an important show of support for Taiwan.
I’m in Taiwan. I’m in Taiwanese waters. This has nothing to do with Beijing. This is to do with simply defending the international rules-based system that the Chinese government in Beijing claims to have signed up to, he said.
Joining him were two other British lawmakers, as well as one each from Ukraine, the Czech Republic, India and New Zealand, all members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China. They were on a trip organised by Taiwan’s foreign ministry and the Ocean Affairs Council, which runs the Coast Guard.
Asked about the trip, China’s foreign ministry said Beijing firmly opposes lawmakers from countries that have diplomatic ties with China making sneaky visits to Taiwan.
