TAIPEI -- Many Chinese civilian vessels repeatedly approached the Matsu Islands of Taiwan, located off the coast of mainland China, from October to December last year, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned from multiple sources in think tanks associated with Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense.
China has been sending civilian ships to sensitive waters around the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture and in the South China Sea to pressure the countries concerned. The activities around the Matsu Islands are believed to be part of its efforts to heighten pressure on Taiwan, which refuses to be consolidated into China.
In late October, a large fleet of about 200 vessels collecting and transporting sea sand appeared off Nangan Island. Fishing boats were also part of the group.
According to local news reports, the island's sandy beaches are disappearing at an alarming rate. The Matsu Islands are about 10 kilometers from mainland China, and the sea sand is believed to be used for the construction of an airport in Fujian Province, China.
According to Lee Jyun-Yi, an associate research fellow of the Division of National Security Research at Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research, about 50 ships gathered near Nangan Island in early November. Photos taken in early December and obtained by The Yomiuri Shimbun also show nearly 20 ships near Nangan Island, suggesting that the gathering of Chinese ships there is becoming a regular occurrence.
The extraction of sand from the sea, which can damage the environment, is strictly regulated in China's coastal areas. China seems to be allowing ships to congregate around the Matsu Islands.
Chuang Ching-Ta, a former director general of Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration who retired this month, told The Yomiuri Shimbun, "Most of the problems can be solved if the Chinese authorities just issue a [ban] order."
There has also been a series of incidents involving Chinese vessels trespassing within six kilometers of the coastline of the Matsu Islands, an area that Taiwan considers its jurisdictional waters. The number of vessels collecting and transporting sea sand that were driven away from Taiwan's jurisdictional waters by the Coast Guard Administration rose from zero in 2018 to 91 in 2019. This figure sharply increased to 536 in the January-to-November period last year.
Provocative behavior by Chinese ships is also noticeable around other islands around Taiwan. According to Taiwan media, in March more than 10 Chinese fishing boats damaged a Taiwan patrol boat by purposefully bumping into it in the waters around Kinmen Island when their illegal fishing nets were about to be confiscated.
In August, a Chinese fishing boat hit and damaged a Taiwan fishing boat near the Penghu Islands.
China has repeatedly engaged in intimidating actions in the air, including the use of air force planes to enter Taiwan's air defense identification zone, but it has also stepped up pressure at sea.
In August 2016 and August 2018, about 100 to 200 Chinese fishing boats came near the Senkaku Islands and some of them entered the contiguous zone. In the South China Sea, about 130 Chinese ships, including four warships, gathered in May 2014 near the Paracel Islands, where China had begun oil drilling.
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