Taiwan flags two Chinese ships patrolling near its east coast

Two Chinese Coast Guard ships were involved in the latest patrol off Taiwan’s east coast, and Taiwan sent its own vessels to monitor them, the island’s Coast Guard said late Saturday, Nov. 1.

The agency characterized the operation as shipping harassment and an attempt to assert what it called a fictional jurisdiction. The patrol extends a pattern of regular Chinese Coast Guard activity in the area since June.

What did the latest patrol involve?

China announced the two-vessel mission late Saturday. Chinese state media showed video of one ship broadcasting a radio message that it was conducting law enforcement and offering help if needed. The message did not identify its intended recipient, and the footage showed an unidentified fishing trawler.

Taiwan’s Coast Guard said: “Our country holds sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the exclusive economic zone east of Taiwan, and China has absolutely no jurisdiction over any of Taiwan’s waters.”

It also 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.”

The legal language is broader than the footage. No container ship, bulk carrier, cargo quantity, boarding, seizure or sailing disruption appears in the account. The two vessels and the radio broadcast are the concrete facts available to a ship operator assessing the event.

Why does Taiwan see blockade practice?

Taiwan rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, while China views Taiwan as its own territory and recognizes no Taiwanese sovereignty claim. Taiwanese officials believe China is practicing for a potential maritime blockade by using overlapping military, paramilitary and civilian assets.

That assessment turns the patrol into a logistics issue. Taipei regards the area east of Taiwan as critical to wartime supply routes from allies in the event of a blockade or conflict.

The report provides no trade lane, TEU count, tonnage figure or sailing schedule for those routes. It supports a security assessment, not a current cargo-volume estimate.

What is happening around the Pratas Islands?

On Saturday, China sent another Coast Guard ship close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands, Taiwan’s Coast Guard said separately. The islands sit at the top of the South China Sea, roughly between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Taiwan has “expelled” Chinese Coast Guard vessels from Pratas waters 13 times so far this year, according to the agency. The islands have no permanent civilian population and lie more than 400 km (250 miles) from Taiwan. Security experts consider that distance a source of vulnerability to Chinese attack.

What does this change for shippers, carriers and forwarders?

The immediate commercial effect for shippers, carriers and forwarders is unquantified. The report documents no freight-rate move, capacity reduction, cargo seizure, route closure or sailing cancellation, so there is no basis for claiming that the patrols have tightened vessel supply or changed contract pricing.

The practical issue is route security. Chinese Coast Guard patrols have run regularly east of Taiwan since June, and Taipei identifies those waters as wartime supply routes from allies. For a carrier or forwarder, radio messaging that claims law-enforcement authority adds a jurisdiction question to passage planning, even though the source reports no delayed vessel.

The change is in context, not measured capacity: the patrols do not establish a live blockade or current cargo disruption. They identify a patrol pattern, a jurisdictional claim over the exclusive economic zone east of Taiwan and a second pressure point near the Pratas.

Going forward, the indicators are whether the June pattern of regular patrols continues, whether the Pratas expulsions rise beyond 13 and whether radio broadcasts become more frequent. With regular patrols already under way and 13 expulsions this year, the policy trajectory points to continued Coast Guard pressure around Taiwan, although the source provides no basis for a freight-rate or capacity forecast.