China's latest drills attempt to eliminate 'median line:' Expert
ROC Central News Agency
04/05/2023 09:52 PM
Taipei, April 5 (CNA) China's announced maneuvers east of the median line in the Taiwan Strait are intended to underscore the fact that China no longer accepts the previously tacit agreement on the median line between the two sides and reassert its territorial claim over Taiwan, an expert said Wednesday.
Early Wednesday, China's Fujian Maritime Safety Administration launched a "joint cruise and patrol special operation" in the Taiwan Strait led by the Haixun 06 (海巡06), China's first large-scale maritime patrol ship, in the strait, joined by an indeterminate number of vessels listed under China's maritime police agencies.
The move came less than a day before the meeting between United States House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California at 10 a.m. Wednesday local time.
According to China's national broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), the drill will be held in northern and central parts of the Taiwan Strait. It did not provide information about the exact location of the drill or how long it would last.
The CCTV report came with a maritime chart which also highlighted two areas east and southeast of Taiwan's east coast in the Pacific Ocean, without indicating what they represent.
By sending its patrol vessels into waters east of the median line in the Taiwan Strait, China aims to establish a fait accompli that the waters east of the median line are under China's jurisdiction, Chieh Chung (揭仲), an associate research fellow with the National Policy Foundation in Taipei, told CNA Wednesday.
The median line in the Taiwan Strait refers to a tacit understanding between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and People's Republic of China that served as a largely observed unofficial border between Taiwan and China from the 1950s until the visit by then U.S. House speaker Nancy Pelosi in August 2022.
China's claim to the Taiwan Strait, which is roughly 70 nautical miles at its narrowest and 205 nautical miles at its widest, is codified in the Declaration on the Baselines of the Territorial Sea of the People's Republic of China of 15 May 1996, Chieh said.
Based on that declaration, he said, China claims Taiwan Strait is in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that generally extends 200 nautical miles beyond a nation's baseline within which it has jurisdiction regarding its resources.
The "joint cruise and patrol special operation" is being conducted in the name of administering China's EEZ in accordance with China's Maritime Traffic Safety Law enacted in 2021 to strengthen its maritime order, Chieh said.
President Tsai is poised to meet McCarthy and a bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers in a closed-door session on Wednesday, followed by a joint statement by Tsai and McCarthy and a press event attended by the U.S. lawmakers.
The California Republican was reportedly scheduled to visit Taiwan in the spring, but was convinced to meet Tsai in the U.S., as part of her trip to Taiwan's allies in Central America, in an effort to avoid an aggressive Chinese military response, according to the Financial Times.
In an interview with CNA on Wednesday, Chong Ja Ian (莊嘉穎), an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said that the "joint cruise and patrol special operation" showed that Beijing is determined to continue to push a hardline stance.
Despite the change of venue for the meeting, generally seen as a concession to China, Beijing has maintained its tough line policy towards Taiwan and is expected to continue to resort to verbal intimidation and military threats, he said.
In addition to the "joint cruise and patrol special operation," Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) said late Wednesday that China sailed its newest aircraft carrier, the Shandong (山東艦), through the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan into the West Pacific Ocean for its first long-range training session earlier that day.
The MND denounced the drill as part of the Chinese military's ongoing attempted intimidation which it said has destabilized regional peace and status quo.
(By Novia Huang, Elaine Hou and Shih Hsiu-chuan)
Enditem/AW
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