Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration said China Coast Guard vessel 3102 entered restricted waters northeast of Pratas on the 20th and a standoff continued. It says it has expelled Chinese ships 12 times this year; no official Chinese response appeared in the reports.
Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration said its Pratas (Dongsha) command spotted China Coast Guard vessel 3102 southeast of the atoll around 5 a.m. on the 20th. The ship had switched off its automatic identification system (AIS) while heading toward Taiwan's restricted waters, which the agency called ‘dark ship’ behavior. Central News Agency and Newtalk were among the outlets reporting it.
광고 문의 · 300×250The agency said the vessel entered restricted waters northeast of the island around 8 a.m. The patrol ship Taichung shadowed it and repeatedly ordered it in Chinese and English to leave, and the standoff was still under way at the time of reporting.
What was said over the radio
According to the agency, the Chinese vessel broadcast that the ‘so-called Republic of China does not exist’ and addressed the Taichung as a ‘China Taiwan’ ship. The agency called this propaganda meant to belittle Taiwan's sovereignty.
The Taichung replied that Taiwan is a sovereign, independent country not subordinate to the People's Republic of China, and that entering without permission violated international law and the vessel should turn back at once. The agency said its sovereignty over the Pratas atoll and surrounding waters is beyond doubt and condemned the act in the strongest terms.
The two sides' positions
The agency counts 12 expulsions of Chinese coast guard ships from Pratas waters this year, 15 ship-passages in all. It also said China has recently used mixed formations of coast guard, research and fishing vessels around Taiwan, and that disabling AIS is a deliberate effort to hide a ship's track. It described the moves as ‘fake law enforcement, real expansion of power’ and pledged round-the-clock monitoring.
The reports contain no formal statement from the Chinese government or coast guard. The radio remarks were relayed by the Taiwanese agency and could not be independently verified, and how the standoff ended was not reported. Beijing has generally treated the Taiwan question as an internal matter and described coast guard activity as legitimate exercise of jurisdiction, but its specific position on this case is unconfirmed.