Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration says Chinese coast guard ships breached waters near Taiwan's outlying Kinmen Islands a total of 52 times in 2024, a record high. It is part of Beijing's "gray-zone warfare" strategy.
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00:00A record number of Chinese Coast Guard ships breached restricted waters around Taiwan's
00:05outlying islands of Jinmen in 2024.
00:08New figures have been released on the incursions.
00:11Jaime Okon is in Taipei for us with the details.
00:14Jaime, what is Taiwan's Coast Guard saying?
00:17Well, Taiwan's Coast Guard says that since February of 2024, there have been 52 incidents
00:26where China's Coast Guard breaches restricted waters in the outlying islands of Jinmen.
00:31Some sources have told me that that is the highest number that they've ever seen.
00:34Now, Jinmen is one of the closest islands to China, about four kilometers off the coast
00:40of Xiamen.
00:41So, this area from the start already has a pretty high level of law enforcement activity
00:45because China and Taiwan are both trying to monitor their borders.
00:50The issue here goes back to February when two Chinese fishers died in a chase with Taiwan's
00:55Coast Guard after resisting a search.
00:57And since that moment is when China really started to up its Coast Guard presence to
01:01coerce and harass Taiwan.
01:03Now, these tactics of using Coast Guard ships and law enforcement and smaller fishing vessels
01:10is all part of Beijing's gray zone warfare strategy that's happening not just in Jinmen
01:14but all around Taiwan.
01:16Now, the goal of that gray zone warfare is to put pressure on Taiwan without actually
01:22having to use the military, creating a gray area and how Taiwan responds to that aggression
01:27which is usually with just a warning.
01:29Take a listen to one of the English versions of that warning.
01:33You have entered ROC Taiwan's restricted waters without permission.
01:38Your actions have destabilized maritime order and security of ROC Taiwan.
01:43Adjust your course and leave our restricted waters immediately.
01:49Some of the Chinese Coast Guard ships that we've seen operating around Taiwan actually
01:53participated in large scale military exercises earlier this year.
01:57And so there's a growing concern that Beijing is learning how to fuse together the Coast
02:02Guard, law enforcement and the military to really maximize the way it puts pressure on
02:07Taiwan.
02:08And so for the Coast Guard here, which has a much smaller fleet, it's going to be a major
02:13challenge in trying to handle and maintain that aggression going into this year.