China will routinely carry out maritime surveys in the waters east of Taiwan in a bid to diversify claims to the international waters, the Chinese ministry of natural resources said, state media has reported.
The surveys will be carried out by mainland China as it looks to expand its control over the waters through several methods, including military drills, coastguard patrols and natural resources surveys, reported a state broadcaster-affiliated social media account.
The Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands, a national park toward the northern end of the South China Sea and lightly defended by the coast guard, have emerged as a new pressure point in China’s ongoing military and quasi-military operations around Taiwan in an effort to assert Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
The islands between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance – more than 400km (250 miles) – from Taiwan island.
This comes just days after the Chinese ministry of natural resources carried out a three-day long marine environmental survey in the waters via the research vessel Xiangyanghong 22.
The maritime survey was aimed at collecting data on seawater environmental DNA, birds, whales and dolphins, marine chemistry, hydrology and meteorology in the waters, reported CGTN.
It also comes on the heels of Japan and the Philippines holding talks for defence cooperation to bolster their security front against the Chinese expansion. Tokyo and Manila said they were joining hands to outline their exclusive economic zones and continental shelf boundaries east of Taiwan, an action that has riled China.
The ministry has claimed China’s more regular surveys would help it with territorial planning, development and protection, and the future operations could cover areas like exploring natural resources, aquaculture and building underwater infrastructure of cables, pipes and tunnels.
Beijing has already decried the cooperation between Japan and the Philippines as “seriously infringing upon China’s maritime rights and interests”.
China not only claims sovereignty over the self-governed Taiwan island but has also said it does not rule out capturing the democratic island by force if necessary.
The article published on Saturday said the survey was merely an extension of China’s “nearshore governance” and the activities in the contested international waters across the Taiwan Strait were lawful exercises of its sovereign rights.
The survey was an extension of Beijing’s “nearshore governance”, the article said.
It claimed that the waters east of Taiwan will be seen by China as our “near seas” and the references to the Taiwan Strait will be reduced.
Earlier this month, Taiwanese officials had located a Chinese coast guard ship and a survey ship in the waters and said they had carried out the first coordinated operation to “provoke” Taiwan, in waters around strategically located islands in the South China Sea.
Taiwan’s coast guard said in a statement that along with a Chinese coast guard ship that had approached the Pratas on 5 June, a Chinese oceanographic survey vessel approached the islands on 6 June.
“This is the first observed instance of Chinese coast guard and survey vessels acting in coordination to provoke Taiwan,” it said.
