Taiwan will not yield freedom: VP

‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: A coast guard captain said this year is the worst year he has seen, as he called Chinese ships’ conduct ‘a very, very serious act of provocation’

Taiwan will not compromise its freedoms or democracy in the face of intensifying Chinese military threats and “gray zone” pressure, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in an interview aired yesterday, ahead of US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) meeting this week.

Hsiao made the remarks in an interview with British news channel Sky News about the growing presence and increasingly aggressive conduct of China Coast Guard vessels near Taiwan. The interview aired at about 1:30pm Taiwan time.

“The reality is also that the Communist Party of China claims Taiwan and is coercing us into submission,” Hsiao said, adding that military pressure had intensified in the past few years.

Vice President, right, Hsiao Bi-khim sits for an interview with British news channel Sky News in a program aired yesterday.

Photo: Screen grab from the Presidential Office’s Flickr page

Asked whether Taiwan should draw a line beyond which it would respond to Chinese “gray zone” incursions, Hsiao said that “the threat to use force has never been acceptable.”

“We will not provoke, but at the same time, we will not yield by compromising our basic freedoms and our democracy,” she said.

Taiwan must respond to growing coercion and threats by taking a more dynamic approach to strengthening and fortifying itself, Hsiao added.

Sky News described “gray zone” coercion as the gradual normalization of actions that give China an advantage.

An analysis conducted with the Futures Lab at the Center for Strategic and International Studies showed a record China Coast Guard presence in waters near Taiwan proper last summer.

The estimated daily average number of vessels rose 37.5 percent from summer last year. East of Taiwan, where China Coast Guard vessels began patrolling for the first time last summer, the figure surged 3,800 percent over the same period.

Sky News described the waters east of Taiwan as strategically vital in a conflict.

Hsu Wei-hung (徐瑋鴻), a coast guard captain who has served for more than 20 years, said this year is the worst year he has seen, with Chinese vessels appearing on virtually every mission.

He said the vessels increasingly resembled warships and maneuvered and adjusted their speed to breach Taiwan’s defensive lines.

Calling their conduct “a very, very serious act of provocation,” Hsu said he would be lying if he claimed not to be concerned.

In response, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said China had an exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in waters east of Taiwan under Chinese and international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The Chinese ministry described the patrols as legitimate exercises of jurisdiction intended to maintain maritime order and regional stability.