Taipei’s Coast Guard Administration reports that two China Coast Guard ships have been “harassing shipping with its latest patrol off Taiwan’s east coast and trying to exert a fictional jurisdiction” and that the CGA has been monitoring the CCG vessels. The incursions near Taiwan’s east coast have been going on for months (Reuters, November 1, 2026).
China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has stepped up activity off the island’s east coast since June with regular coast guard patrols. Officials in Taiwan, which rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, say they believe China is practising for a potential maritime blockade using overlapping military, paramilitary and civilian assets.
Taipei regards the area off its east coast as critical to wartime supply routes from allies in the event of a blockade or conflict. China recognises no claims of sovereignty by Taiwan….
Taiwan’s Coast Guard said China’s “attempts to harass ships at sea through radio communications are a clear expansion of power that violate international law, undermine regional peace and stability, and deviate from reality”….
China on Saturday also sent another Coast Guard ship close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands, which are strategically located at the top of the South China Sea, Taiwan’s Coast Guard said separately.
Taiwan has so far this year “expelled” Chinese Coast Guard vessels from Pratas waters 13 times, it added.
The rehearsal-for-blockade theory is contradicted by the China Coast Guard, which doesn’t seem to be trying hard to fool anybody. According to a spokesman, “Since October, the Hushi task group has been strengthening control over the relevant waters to effectively ensure orderly navigation and activities.” That’s all.
IntelliNews notes that PRC’s effective ensuring of activities extends beyond Taiwanese waters.
China has strung more than 50 warships and official vessels along the island arc from southern Japan to the Philippines, and Taiwan wants everyone to see them.
Joseph Wu, secretary-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council, posted a map on X on October 28 plotting 53 Chinese ships, 34 of them navy warships. The aircraft carrier Liaoning and its battle group sat east of the Philippines, other formations lay off Taiwan’s east and southeast coasts and three more were marked off southern Japan, Reuters reported.
“The simultaneous threat to Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines is obvious,” Wu said. “We are staying vigilant about their activities.”
Taipei is publishing the positions of Chinese warships and coast guard ships more often, and Wu put out a similar map in May.
The People’s Republic knows that if it tries to blockade or invade Taiwan, other countries threatened by the belligerence most likely won’t be sitting around waiting to see how things go.
