Taipei [Taiwan], June 1 (ANI): Taiwan’s Coast Guard on Wednesday expelled two Chinese military vessels that entered waters off Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported, citing Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration (CGA).
On Saturday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch said that coast guards began monitoring two suspicious vessels at 9:13 am (local time) on Wednesday, which took off from the direction of southeastern China’s Xiamen city, which is near Taiwan’s three outlying island groups.
The Chinese vessels intruded into Taiwan’s restricted waters south of Kinmen’s Zhaishan area. The Coast Guard said it monitored the situation and sent patrol boat PP-10039 to collect evidence and found that the Chinese ships were People’s Liberation Army (PLA) supply ships with hull numbers “KD161” and “KD162,” made with the structural integrity of landing crafts, Central News Agency reported.
After the discovery, the Taiwanese patrol boat issued warnings and drove the vessels away. This ordeal lasted for approximately 40 minutes, according to Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration (CGA).
On Saturday, the Taiwan Army’s Kinmen Defence Command confirmed the transgression. The command said that it discovered the sortie on Wednesday and reported the ships to the Coast Guard’s Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch, according to CNA report.
It further said that it had notified its response troops to enhance their awareness after the incident. The Taiwanese army noted that the area under its defence has the capability to monitor the situation around its premises to give a proper situational response.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Ministry for National Defence (MND) on Saturday detected nine Chinese military aircraft, six naval vessels and four Chinese Coast Guard vessels around Taiwan, Taiwan News reported.
According to the MND, among the nine People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, eight crossed the Taiwan Strait median line in the southwestern portion of the nation’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ). In response, Taiwan sent aircraft and naval ships and deployed coastal-based missile systems to monitor the PLA activity, as per Taiwan News.
In a post on X, Taiwan’s MND stated, “9 #PLA aircraft, 6 PLAN vessels, and 4 CCG vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. today. 8 of the aircraft crossed the median line of the #Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s SW ADIZ. #ROCArmedForces have monitored the situation and responded accordingly.”
The increased activity in the Taiwan Strait region comes amid growing geopolitical tensions between Taiwan and China, as reported by Taiwan News. Taiwan has long been a point of contention for Beijing, which considers the island a renegade province and has repeatedly expressed intentions to reunify it with the mainland, even if by force.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence (MND) has issued daily reports on Chinese military activities for the past few years, including identifying those Chinese aircraft, drones, and balloons that are found to have crossed the Taiwan Strait median line to the Taiwan side. Since the start of May, Taiwan has tracked Chinese military aircraft 463 times and naval/coast guard vessels 272 times. (ANI)
