AFP, Taipei

Taiwan’s coast guard said yesterday its vessels were in a “standoff” with Chinese ships involved in an operation in waters southeast of the island democracy.

Chinese state media reported on Saturday that the “law enforcement operation” was in response to talks between Japan and the Philippines to draw a boundary in waters to the east of Taiwan.

China, which asserts Taiwan is part of its territory, called the talks “illegal” and has claimed exclusive control over the waters. Taiwan’s coast guard said its vessels had “expelled” four Chinese ships from the island’s “restricted waters”, and were now 33 nautical miles southeast of the island’s southernmost tip.

“Vessels from both sides are still in a standoff,” the Taiwanese coast guard said.

The coast guard said that it “strongly condemns China’s use of the Japan-Philippines negotiations as a pretext to conceal its attempts to create the illusion of ‘jurisdiction’”.

Taiwan has deployed seven patrol vessels to help with surveillance of the Chinese ships. Tokyo and Manila said last month they would start talks “to delimit the maritime boundary” of an economic zone and continental shelf between them, angering Beijing.

On Saturday, Beijing’s transport ministry organised maritime police from the coastal provinces of Fujian and Guangdong to “conduct a special maritime traffic law enforcement operation in waters east of Taiwan Island”, Xinhua said.

The report did not give details on operation, including how long it lasted or whether it was still ongoing, and it did not say whether maritime police sent ships to the area.

The operation was “a necessary action taken against Japan and the Philippines’ unilateral announcement they would start ‘negotiations on delimiting a maritime boundary’” near Taiwan, Xinhua added.