China warns Taiwan must bear consequences over Pratas water-cannon incident

China's Taiwan Affairs Office warned on Oct. 14 that Taiwan must bear the consequences after the Coast Guard Administration used a water cannon on a Chinese fishing boat near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands, also known as Dongsha, earlier this month, according to independent reporting of remarks by spokesman Chen Binhua.

Chen said China claims indisputable sovereignty over the Pratas and surrounding waters and that mainland vessels operating there are entirely legal and justified. He accused Taiwan's government of treating mainland vessels roughly in a dangerous manner that endangers lives and property and of stirring cross-strait confrontation, without specifying what consequences Beijing meant.

The underlying incident occurred on Oct. 1, when the Coast Guard patrol vessel Yunlin found two Chinese fishing boats about eight nautical miles inside restricted waters east of Dongsha. One boat left after radio warnings; the Jin Sha refused, prompting Yunlin to fire a warning spray and then direct its water cannon at the wheelhouse under low-lethality procedures before the boat got under way.

After the Jin Sha lost propulsion while leaving, Yunlin stood by, checked the crew, delivered 35 hot meals at the fishermen's request, towed the boat outside restricted waters, and handed it to a Chinese work vessel the next morning, Taiwanese official accounts say.

A Taiwan official with direct knowledge of the Pratas situation told Reuters the Coast Guard carried out normal law enforcement and responded in a very careful and proportionate way. Premier Cho Jung-tai had earlier said firing the water cannon was necessary if sovereignty was being violated and law-enforcement officers had to protect national security.

Security analysts note Dongsha sits more than 400 km from Taiwan proper, with an airstrip and a national park but no permanent civilian population, and that day-to-day security rests with the Coast Guard rather than the military, leaving the atoll exposed in a crisis.

The Oct. 14 warning landed as Taiwan reported another People's Liberation Army joint combat-readiness patrol near the island and as National Security Council deputy secretary-general Lii Wen told a Taipei forum that Chinese grey-zone activity below the threshold of conflict, including militia and research vessels, risks disrupting transport and critical infrastructure.

For TaiwanDefence, the newsworthy development is Beijing's explicit threat language over a Coast Guard boarding-support action already documented in early October, not a fresh water-cannon exchange. Independent outlets carried Chen's line while Taiwan restated that the Yunlin sequence followed standard operating procedures and humanitarian practice after the fishing boat lost power.