10:00 Ships from mainland China called sand dredgers have been appearing around Taiwanese island, wearing Taiwan's coast guard.
The ships have been entering waters near Taiwan's Mazu islands since June of 2020. They are pulling up sand from the sea bottom for building projects in China. But the activity is interfering with marine life and underwater communication lines near the islands. Some experts believe the activities show that mainland China has begun a compaign of gray zone warfare against Taiwan. Gray zone warfare means causing problems for an imponent without fighting them in battle. To stop the Chinese, Taiwan's coast guard now patrolls the islands 24 hours a day every day. The dredging is a gray zone strategy said Sutuyang, he is an associate researcher at Taiwan's military research center, the institute for national defense and security research. You dredge for sand on the one hand, but if you can also put pressure on Taiwan, then that's great too, he added. The Matchu islands are not the only places where the Chinese are dredging.
Taiwan's coast guard says, China has also been dredging in waters that are not deep near the midean line of the Taiwan straight. The Taiwan straight seperates mainland China and Taiwan.
Last year Taiwan forced nearly 4000 Chinese dredgers and sand transporting ships to leave their waters. That is a five hundred sixty percent increase in activity from 2019.
Taiwan's coast guard said most of the ships were close to the midean line. The fight over sand is just part of the compaign。 China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory. It has been using other grey zone actions to wear down the island of 23 million people, some officials say. In recent months, China's military has been sending warplanes toward the island. almost everyday, Taiwan has been forced to deploy military aircraft to meet the threat. The additional action is pushing its small airforce beyond its normal ability. Taiwanese military officials and western experts say China's grey zone activities are meant to exaust the will of the islands' military. The Chinese want the world to be commused to their compaign against Taiwan they believe. China's dredging said one Taiwanese security official is part of their cycological warfare against Taiwan.
China's Taiwan affairs' office said in a statement to Voiters that Taiwan's claims that mainland China is permitting sand dredging boats near Mazu, in the midean line are untrue. The officer said it had taken steps to stop illegal sand dredging. The office also said Taiwan is an inseperable part of China. It accused Taiwanese officials of using their claims of control over low waters to detain mainland boats. The Mazu islands are almost an hour by plane from Taibei. Taiwan's capital. There are one of several island groups close to China's coast that Taiwan has governed since 1949 when the Chinese civil war ended. Some of the Mazu islands are only 9 kilometers from mainland China. They are protected by just 9 coast guard ships.
Taiwanese officials say that on Sundays, the coast guard faces hundreds of Chinese ships in and around the islands waters. Taiwan claims its waters extend 6 kilometers from the Mazu islands. China does not recognize any claims of soveinty by Taiwan. At one time last year, more than 200 Chinese sand dredging and sand moving ships were seen operating south of Yanggang, the main Mazu island, three Taiwanese officials told Voiters. Taiwan seized four Chinese ships and detained 37 crew members last year. The coast guard said. Ten of those arrested were given sentences of 6-8 months in prison. others are still on trial the coast guard said.
Taiwan is in the process of building up its coast guard. partly because of the dredging threat from China. In December president Caiyingwen said more than 100 new coast guard ships will be built in the next ten years. She promised to stop Chinese dredging in Taiwan's waters. Recently larger patrol boats were sent to temperarily reinforce the Mazu coast guard, whose 117 members are now carrying out 24 hour patrols. The dredging is also hurting the islands economy. The Mazu islands are popular with vacationers. and 17,300 people live on them. Local people say China's dredging is hurting their businesses. Chencrowchang has a seafood restaurant on Liangang, he says the dredging has led to a big decrease in the number of fish, he catches off the island. He also fears a Chinese invasion. We don't want to be ruled by mainland China, he said, we have freedom which is limited over there.
The coast guard said most of the Chinese ships that transport the sand go to the Chinese city of Wenzhou. There is a large land of reclaiming project for a new 66 square kilometer ecenomic zone. Wang Qinghua is head of economic development for the Mazu islands. Wang said Taiwan asked for a meeting with officials at the Chinese port city of Fuzhou to discuss the dredging, but is was postponed indefinitely by the officials without an explaination.
I am Susan shi.
10:28.
发表于 2021-2-14 07:05
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发表于 2021-2-14 10:40
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