{"id":11422,"date":"2026-07-20T10:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T05:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11422"},"modified":"2026-07-20T10:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T05:08:13","slug":"taiwan-says-chinese-vessel-activity-jumps-raising-fears-for-pacific-supply-routes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11422","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan says Chinese vessel activity jumps, raising fears for Pacific supply routes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\" data-body-type=\"bodyblocks\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">By Yimou Lee<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">TAIPEI, July 20 (Reuters) &#8211; Taiwan detected a sharp rise in Chinese coast guard and research vessel activity around the island in June, prompting Taipei to plan drills simulating Chinese escalations off its Pacific \u200ccoast, according to Taiwan Coast Guard data and officials.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Taiwan reported 55 Chinese government vessel sightings, including coast guard and \u200cresearch boats, around the island in June, up from 30 in May, the data showed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The sightings marked an 83% increase from May and a 120% rise \u200bfrom 25 sightings in June last year. The tally excluded sightings around Taiwan-controlled islands near the Chinese coast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The figures underscore the growing role of China&#8217;s coast guard in Beijing&#8217;s latest pressure campaign against Taiwan, which angers Taipei and alarms some Western nations including U.S., Britain, France and Germany.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">China&#8217;s military operates almost daily around Taiwan, but Beijing has increasingly used its coast guard to assert its territorial \u200cclaims in what Taipei calls &#8220;lawfare&#8221; \u2014 efforts to \u2060create a legal basis for Chinese actions around the island.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Taiwan officials said the activity points to a critical wartime risk: that Beijing may be rehearsing how to sever Taiwan&#8217;s Pacific supply lines from \u2060allies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;If the situation escalates to a blockade \u2014 or what would already amount to a quasi-war \u2014 we have plans to work with the navy to jointly protect Taiwan&#8217;s lifeline sea routes,&#8221; a senior Taiwan Coast Guard official said at a briefing, speaking on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;We have \u200banticipated \u200bthis scenario not only through tabletop exercises but also through live drills,&#8221; \u200bthe official said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">China&#8217;s defence ministry and Taiwan Affairs \u200cOffice did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">China does not recognise Taiwan sovereignty and says the democratic island is part of China. Taipei says Beijing has no right to claim sovereignty or jurisdiction over the island or its waters and that only the Taiwanese people can decide their future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">CONVERTED CHINESE WARSHIPS<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A senior Taiwan Coast Guard official said some Chinese coast guard ships had been converted from former naval destroyers and repainted for coast guard use, posing a heightened threat to Taiwan&#8217;s coast guard because \u200cof their size, endurance and military-grade capabilities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Chinese coast guard vessels now often \u200boperate in pairs just outside Taiwan&#8217;s economic waters in the Pacific, an \u200bexpansive area that places a major strain on Taiwan&#8217;s \u200blimited coast guard fleet, the official added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;This places a major strain on the capacity of Taiwan&#8217;s coast \u200cguard vessels,&#8221; the official said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A second senior official described \u200bthe Chinese activity as &#8220;expansion&#8221; and \u200ban attempt to change the status quo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">China&#8217;s coast guard had broadcast questions to merchant vessels about port entry and exit information, putting pressure on commercial shipping even though no vessel had so far changed course, officials said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Taiwan had broadcast \u200bback to the ships, telling them to \u200cmaintain normal navigation and ignore Chinese interference.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;It knows it has no jurisdiction now, so it is trying to \u200bcreate something out of nothing,&#8221; said the second official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">(Reporting By \u200bYimou Lee; additional reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Michael Perry)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Yimou Lee TAIPEI, July 20 (Reuters) &#8211; Taiwan detected a sharp rise in Chinese coast guard and research vessel activity around the island in June, prompting Taipei to plan drills simulating Chinese escalations off its Pacific \u200ccoast, according to Taiwan Coast Guard data and officials. Taiwan reported 55 Chinese government vessel sightings, including coast&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/b2dee65a1658f75cac3da4d5a7a4aa020029c1de026127e713d277125d9ce2f9\/lightyear_networkapi\/resizefill_w800_h548;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Freuters.com%2F31377959e7335593ee7421c584a29b2f","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}