TAIPEI, May 24 (Reuters) – The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards were engaged in a tense standoff for the second day near the strategically located Pratas islands at the top of the South China Sea, Taiwan’s Coast Guard said on Sunday.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a position the government in Taipei rejects. China has pressured Taiwan by increasing its military presence around the island over the past five years.
Lying roughly between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance – more than 400 km (250 miles) – from Taiwan island.
Taiwan’s Coast Guard said on Saturday it had spotted a Chinese Coast Guard ship heading to the Pratas and immediately sent its own ship which broadcast warnings and the two sides “engaged in an intense verbal confrontation over sovereignty via radio.”
The Chinese ship broadcast that it was on a routine mission and that China had sovereignty and jurisdiction over the Pratas, the Taiwan Coast Guard said.
“Please do not destroy peace. You should return and strive for democracy. That is the correct way to serve your country,” the Taiwan ship broadcast back, according to video provided by its coast guard.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to a request for comment.
A Taiwan Coast Guard official told Reuters the Chinese ship was 21 nautical miles to the northeast of the Pratas and the standoff was continuing as of Sunday afternoon.
China’s wording on having jurisdiction and sovereignty was unusual as was the length of its stay in the waters so close to the Pratas, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
The Pratas, an atoll which is also a Taiwanese national park, is only lightly defended by Taiwan, and its coast guard has that responsibility rather than the military.
In January, Taiwan said a Chinese reconnaissance drone briefly flew over the Pratas, in what Taiwan’s defence ministry called a “provocative and irresponsible” move.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
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