Chinese coast guard shadows eight Japanese ships sheltering off Penghu

According to Focus Taiwan, the Japanese vessels moved along the strait's median line at 06:00 on 22 October (01:00 TRT) and reached waters south-west of Qimei Island in Penghu county. That point lies outside Taiwan's 24-nautical-mile contiguous zone. The flotilla included 3 large helicopter-capable patrol vessels and 5 large patrol vessels. On the Chinese side, 3 ships of 3,000 tonnes and 2 Daishan-class ships of 5,000 tonnes followed the Japanese vessels. As of the evening of 23 October neither the Japanese government nor China's foreign ministry had commented.

The agency stressed that under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea the Japanese vessels had the right to transit the strait's international waters. According to the Taipei Times, it regarded Beijing's tracking of foreign state vessels in a storm as part of an effort to turn the strait into China's 'inland sea'. Agency official Hsieh Ching-chin said the Japanese ships based in Okinawa saw the strait as the best route for sheltering from the typhoon. As of 24 October, Champi had left 1 person dead and 616 injured in Taiwan.

The episode comes as coastal security pressure widens. Reuters reported on 24 October that Taiwan detected a fishing boat it believes belongs to China's maritime militia. On 16 August the boat came within 2.7 nautical miles of restricted waters off the east coast. The agency says such activity has grown since June in waters where the exclusive economic zones of Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines overlap. The rise began after Tokyo and Manila announced maritime boundary talks; Beijing insists its activity in those waters is lawful.