Taiwan issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that entered restricted waters Monday around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, which lie just off China's southeastern coast.
Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said it detected the Chinese ships approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at about 3 p.m. local time, the Taipei Times reported Tuesday, citing a statement from the CGA's Kinmen-Matsu Branch.
The CGA said the Chinese vessels separately entered the restricted waters off Fuxing islet, Zhaishan, Jinhu, and Liaoluo at 3 p.m. local time and left the area about two hours later following the arrival of the Taiwan patrol boats.
The Kinmen Islands lie less than two-and-a-half miles from mainland China in the Taiwan Strait and are the epicenter of growing tensions between the countries.
Tensions in the area heightened after two Chinese men on board a speedboat reportedly died in February while trying to flee a Taiwanese coast guard vessel. China's coast guard responded by patrolling close to the islands, saying the reason is to protect Chinese fishing boats. But the patrols also fit with China's strategy of squeezing Taiwan, a democracy that Beijing claims as its territory.
The CGA said the actions by China's coast guard "only exacerbate the estrangement between people on two sides of the Taiwan Strait and impede cross-strait exchanges," adding it will continue to safeguard national sovereignty and uphold Taiwan's rights on the sea, the Taipei Times reported.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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