China angered, Taiwan cheered by Western allies’ alarm over Chinese Coast Guard activities

By Mei Mei Chu and Ben Blanchard

BEIJING/TAIPEI, June 25 (Reuters) – China expressed its anger and Taiwan its gratitude after the U.S., Britain, France and Germany raised the alarm about the Chinese Coast Guard and activities off the island’s east coast.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, sent Coast Guard ships earlier in June into the waters off Taiwan’s east coast for what it called a “special maritime traffic law-enforcement operation,” angering Taipei.

China said the operation was in response to an announcement by Japan and the Philippines that they would begin formal talks on their maritime boundaries, which Beijing viewed as involving Chinese waters off Taiwan.

China has also been sending maritime survey ships into the same waters, and on Tuesday Taiwan said the Chinese aircraft carrier the Fujian had sailed through the Taiwan Strait.

Speaking in Beijing on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said the patrols to Taiwan’s east were a “legitimate exercise of jurisdiction aimed at maintaining regional stability and maritime order”.

“Relevant countries should respect China’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and maritime rights and interests, and cease distorting the facts and confounding right and wrong,” he added.

China’s defence ministry said separately that the Fujian had been conducting routine training.

China recognises no claims of sovereignty by Taiwan and considers the island and the waters around it to be its own territory.

TAIWAN ‘THANKFUL’

Joseph Wu, secretary-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council, wrote on X late on Wednesday that he was “truly thankful” for the statements from the four countries.

“A rules-based int’l order, the StatusQuo, & regional peace & stability are what we all care about. The PRC should stop its maritime expansionism,” he wrote, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council, which runs the island’s Coast Guard, said freedom of navigation and maritime safety in the Taiwan Strait and the waters surrounding Taiwan are essential to global trade. 

“China’s maritime harassment of Taiwan, and the political pressure that follows, not only violate international law but also harm the shared interests of the international community. They must be promptly contained and collectively rejected,” it added.

Taiwan will continue to stand together with its “friends” and “responsibly and jointly defend the international order in surrounding waters through lawful, appropriate, and firm measures”, the council said in a statement.

Kuan Bi-ling, the minister who runs the council, wrote on her Facebook page that China has been “certified” as a disruptor of regional stability.

“The more China harasses Taiwan, the more the international community supports Taiwan!” she added.

Last week, Kuan hosted the de facto British ambassador to Taiwan, Ruth Bradley-Jones, on Taiwan’s Yunlin coast guard ship, docked at port.

Taiwan says China has no right to claim any sovereignty or jurisdiction over the island or its waters.

(Reporting by Mei Mei Chu and Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Antoni Slodkowski in Beijing; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Kevin Buckland)