Taiwan upgrades S China Sea outpost patrol capacity

• By Ben Blanchard / Reuters, TAIPEI

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Taiwan has upgraded its maritime patrol capacity around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the disputed South China Sea, including regularly sending larger ships there, the government said on Wednesday, responding to an increase in Chinese activities.

Lying roughly between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands are seen by security experts as vulnerable to a Chinese attack due to their distance — more than 400km — from Taiwan.

In a statement late on Wednesday, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said its overall patrol and enforcement capacity in Pratas waters has been “comprehensively upgraded.”

A Coast Guard Administration vessel sprays a Chinese fishing vessel with a water cannon to drive it away from Taiwanese waters near Pratas Islands on May 3 last year.

Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration

With the completion of a wharf project in July, a newly built 100-tonne-class patrol boat has been formally stationed at Pratas, “significantly enhancing nearshore patrol capabilities and immediate mobile response capacity,” it added.

Additionally, large patrol vessels are being regularly deployed to patrol waters around Pratas, demonstrating “strong multilayered deterrence and mobile enforcement capabilities,” it said.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Chinese coast guard ships have increased their patrols near Pratas, the most recent of which happened earlier this month.

The CGA is in charge of security for Pratas, which also has an airstrip, but no permanent civilian population other than the military.

The CGA also said that it had confiscated nine Chinese fishing boats around Pratas since the start of this year and had repurposed them for reef patrol and marine conservation work.

The Pratas Islands are a national park with largely untouched reefs, given tourism is almost non-existent.

Taiwan’s other South China Sea outpost is Itu Aba (Taiping Island, 太平島) in the contested Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) in the southern part of the sea.