TAIPEI — Five China Coast Guard vessels followed eight Japan Coast Guard ships that sheltered in the Taiwan Strait from Typhoon Champi, Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said on Friday, urging Beijing not to exploit typhoons to assert jurisdiction over the strait, the Taipei Times reported.
Source: Taipei Times via EuropeSays, Oct 23, 2026
The eight Japanese vessels sailed southward along the Taiwan Strait median line from 6 a.m. on Thursday, reaching waters southwest of Penghu County's Cimei Island, outside Taiwan's contiguous zone, which extends 24 nautical miles (44.4 km) from the territorial sea baseline, the CGA said, according to the Taipei Times.
Source: Taipei Times via EuropeSays, Oct 23, 2026
Focus Taiwan reported the same movement, as relayed by the San Francisco Inquirer: the Japanese ships entered the strait at about 6 a.m. Thursday, moved along the median line and stopped in waters southwest of Qimei, staying outside Taiwan's 24-nautical-mile contiguous zone, and five China Coast Guard ships followed them, the Taiwanese agency said.
Source: Focus Taiwan via SF Inquirer, Oct 24, 2026
Three of the Japanese vessels were large patrol vessels capable of carrying helicopters — the Reimei (PLH-33), the Yashima (PLH-22) and the Ryukyu (PLH-09) — and five were large patrol vessels — the Taketomi (PL-81), the Kabira (PL-83), the Matsushima (PL-74), the Irabu (PL-95) and the Osumi (PL-202), the CGA said, according to the Taipei Times.
Source: Taipei Times via EuropeSays, Oct 23, 2026
China had deployed five coast guard vessels, including the 3,000-tonne-class Baita (CCG-2304), the Xiushan (CCG-2305) and CCG-2308, as well as two 5,000-tonne-class Daishan patrol vessels, CCG-2501 and CCG-2502, the CGA said, according to the Taipei Times.
Source: Taipei Times via EuropeSays, Oct 23, 2026
"Japan was seeking shelter in Taiwan from the typhoon while respecting the Coast Guard Administration's law enforcement procedures," the agency said in a statement reported by Focus Taiwan. "We should assist in the spirit of humanity and mutual support, and call on China not to exploit the typhoon to create the false impression that it has jurisdiction or that the Taiwan Strait constitutes internal waters."
Source: Focus Taiwan via SF Inquirer, Oct 24, 2026
The Japanese coast guard was entitled to pass through the international waters of the strait under international law and maritime humanitarian principles, the CGA said, citing the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Taipei Times reported. By tailing foreign government ships in a storm, the China Coast Guard exploited a natural disaster to unlawfully assert control over the Taiwan Strait as part of Beijing's campaign to transform it into a Chinese inland sea, contravening maritime freedoms, navigational safety and the rules-based international order, the CGA said — Taiwan's characterisation, reported here as the agency stated it.
Source: Taipei Times via EuropeSays, Oct 23, 2026
The CGA said it is carrying out disaster prevention duties, maintaining all-weather surveillance of the Chinese vessels and remains fully prepared to take actions necessary to defend freedom of navigation, safety at sea and Taiwan's national security, the Taipei Times reported. No Chinese response was reported in either report.
Source: Taipei Times via EuropeSays, Oct 23, 2026