Taiwan’s navy will support patrols around the Taipei-controlled Dongsha Islands after mainland Chinese coastguard activity near the South China Sea atoll surged over the past year.
The activity has fuelled concerns in Taipei that Beijing is using the remote outpost to test Taiwan’s responses and refine its grey-zone tactics.
Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration said mainland Chinese coastguard vessels had appeared around the atoll 39 times since February last year, compared with only occasional transits in previous years.
On Monday, Taiwan’s defence minister, Wellington Koo Li-hsiung, said the island’s coastguard would remain the primary force responding to mainland Chinese activity around the Dongsha Islands, which are also called the Pratas Islands.
“The navy will provide necessary assistance to the coastguard,” Koo said without elaborating.
Koo added that Taiwan’s defence ministry and coastguard would “continue to use joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to monitor developments around the Taiwan Strait and surrounding waters”.
