TAIPEI, Sept 24 (Reuters) – Taiwan has upgraded its maritime patrol capacity around the Pratas Islands in the disputed South China Sea, including regularly sending larger ships there, the government said, responding to an increase in Chinese activities.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a position the government in Taipei rejects. China has pressured Taiwan by increasing its military presence around the island over the past five years.
Lying roughly between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands are seen by security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than 400 km (250 miles) — from Taiwan.
In a statement late on Wednesday, Taiwan’s Coast Guard said its overall patrol and enforcement capacity in Pratas waters has been “comprehensively upgraded”.
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 multi-layered deterrence and mobile enforcement capabilities”.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
China recognises no claims of sovereignty by Taiwan, including over the Pratas Islands, and Chinese coast guard ships have increased their patrols near Pratas, the most recent of which happened earlier this month.
Taiwan’s Coast Guard is in charge of security for Pratas, which also has an airstrip though no permanent civilian population, rather than the military.
The Coast Guard 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 in the contested Spratly Islands in the southern part of the sea. It also claims control over the nearby and uninhabited Zhongzhou Reef.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Michael Perry)
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