Taiwan Says 16 Chinese Vessels Entered Its Restricted Waters in One Day as Beijing Adds Militia Boats

Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration said it warded off 16 Chinese vessels in a single day after they entered the island's self-defined restricted waters in a coordinated, multi-pronged operation.

The vessels were 12 coast guard and research ships plus four fishing boats. They operated simultaneously on Sunday, Oct. 18, in waters east of Hualien, south of Pingtung, southwest of Kaohsiung and around the Taiwan-controlled Dongsha Islands, the agency said. It dispatched its own ships to forward positions and broadcast warnings ordering the vessels to leave.

That came days after a separate show of force at sea.

Live-fire drills after Lai's speech

China's Maritime Safety Administration announced live-fire exercises on Oct. 10 for Oct. 12 to 17, covering at least five maritime areas along the Chinese coast. The notice followed President Lai Ching-te's National Day address the same day.

Lai said Taiwan values peace but will not abandon freedom. "Peace cannot rely solely on wishes, and tolerance cannot become a pretext for aggressors to encroach ever further," he said. He also said Taiwan is "open to exchanges but will not accept subordination."

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Chen Xi said on Oct. 11 that military exercises around Taiwan are conducted routinely.

Shen Ming-shih of Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research and U.S.-based commentator Chen Pokong told The Epoch Times the drills could be meant to influence Taiwan's Nov. 28 local elections. Both said the exercises were unlikely to change the military balance across the strait. Shen said Beijing also risks backlash: tension can boost Taiwan's governing party and reinforce a view of China as a bully.

Militia boats off the Pacific coast

The more significant development may be the boats. A Reuters exclusive published Oct. 8 reported the first known sighting of a Chinese maritime militia fishing boat off Taiwan's Pacific coast, working alongside a Chinese coast guard cutter and a research vessel.

Taiwan's Coast Guard confirmed the details on Oct. 23. It identified the suspected militia boat as Minfudingyu 07902 and said it came within about 2.7 nautical miles of Taiwan's restricted waters on Aug. 16. A Taiwanese patrol boat drove it away. The boat is now on a priority watchlist, and the coast guard said it would keep tracking it.

The coast guard said the coordinated activity is part of a pattern of "grey-zone" operations using law-enforcement, scientific and civilian cover to extend Beijing's influence at sea while staying below open conflict. It described the aim as "assisting 'battlefield preparation.'"

It also said China has stepped up such activity since June in overlapping economic zones involving Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines. The timing, the coast guard said, followed Tokyo and Manila announcing talks on delimiting their maritime boundaries. Officials in Taiwan say they believe China is practising for a possible maritime blockade using military, paramilitary and civilian assets. Taiwan's east coast, the agency noted, is an important shipping and supply route.

Research ships and the seabed

Research vessels are the quieter part of the pattern. A Center for Strategic and International Studies analysis compared 200 research vessels from 47 countries, including the U.S. and Russia. It found Chinese ships spent a "statistically significant larger share of time" near critical undersea infrastructure in the Pacific.

The report singled out a Xiang Yang Hong fleet vessel that, between July and October 2024, spent time near three cables linking the U.S. with Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Guam and other points. It moved in a "lawnmower" pattern associated with seafloor mapping.

CSIS wrote that China "may be leveraging its research fleet for underwater data collection that may aid... analysis of terrain for sabotage or submarine operations." The ships are not part of the PLA Navy. The concern is that the data they gather could still serve the military.

Beijing's position

China says its operations off Taiwan's east coast are "legitimate and lawful" because, in its account, they take place in Chinese waters. Taipei rejects that position. China claims Taiwan as its territory and has not ruled out force. Taiwan's government says only the island's people can decide their future.

There was no immediate comment from China's defense ministry on the coast guard's "battlefield preparation" statement. The Philippine defense and foreign ministries also did not immediately respond, and Japan's coast guard declined to comment.

What comes next

The Oct. 18 operation shows the pattern the coast guard describes. Coast guard ships, research vessels and fishing boats arrived at four widely separated points at the same time. Each one requires Taiwan to send a ship, and Taiwan has a finite number.

Taiwan's local elections are scheduled for Nov. 28. Whether Beijing escalates before then, or whether the militia boat off the Pacific coast turns out to be one of several, depends on what the coast guard's watchlist picks up next.

Neither Japan nor the Philippines has publicly said how it will respond.