Photos Show Chinese Ships in Standoff in Neighbor's Waters

China Coast Guard ships have again entered prohibited waters near an outlying Taiwanese county, prompting Taiwan to deploy its own maritime law enforcement in response.

The vessels' presence in the zone followed a statement and map released Friday by the China Coast Guard that announced a patrol had "carried out law enforcement inspections" in waters Taiwan considers restricted and, briefly, the prohibited zone around Kinmen County.

Sailing in formation, four Chinese ships entered forbidden waters south of Kinmen, which at its closest point is just over a mile from Chinese shores, at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration said in a statement.

Three Taiwan Coast Guard cutters were dispatched to meet to head off their Chinese counterparts, broadcast radio warnings, and shadow the Chinese flotilla until it left the zone about an hour later.

The Chinese coast guard's actions impact the safety of other vessels in the traffic-heavy waters around Kinmen, said the coast guard branch responsible for Kinmen and other outlying islands in the Taiwan Strait.

The agency urged China to "immediately stop this act that endangers navigation safety, uphold the principle of reciprocity and mutual respect, jointly maintain maritime order, and ensure the safety and well-being of people on both sides of the strait.

Taiwan has authorized its coast guard to search and seize foreign-flagged vessels found to entered prohibited waters or that remain in restricted waters after being warned twice to leave.

China has increased the frequency of these once-rare patrols since February, when a Chinese speed boat capsized in nearby waters, drowning two Chinese fishermen. Taiwan's coast guard had been pursuing the boat for allegedly operating illegally.

Beijing blasted its neighbor over the deaths, and just days later China's coast guard briefly boarded a Taiwanese tour boat sailing near Chinese waters.

China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its territory and has pledged to someday bring under its control—by force if necessary.

"My sense is mainland Chinese incursions into Kinmen waters are no more than Xi Jinping's way of reminding Taipei, as it gets ready to inaugurate its latest freely elected president, who's boss," Sean King, Asia scholar and senior vice president of New York-based consultancy Park Strategies, told Newsweek.

King doesn't believe, however, that China would move to take Kinmen, or its fellow outlying island county Matsu, unless it was intent on conquering Taiwan's main island.

"Kinmen and Matsu both are historically part of [China's] Fujian Province and not Taiwanese per se," King said. "In fact, [then-Chinese leader] Mao Zedong didn't go for Kinmen and Matsu in the 1950s when he perhaps could have because he was afraid that Taipei no longer controlling said islands might only result in Taiwan proper having even less historical connection to the mainland and thus going off on its own one day."

Taiwan stations troops on Kinmen. In the late 1950s, it was at the center of clashes, including a failed amphibious invasion by China's People's Liberation Army, with intermittent shelling until 1979.

The incident on Monday came as Taiwan prepares for the May 20 inauguration of President-elect Lai Ching-te of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

During his visit to China late last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for restraint from all sides in the weeks leading up to the inauguration ceremony.

Newsweek has reached out to Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration and China's Foreign Ministry with written requests for comment.

Update 5/10/24, 1 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Sean King.