Chinese militia boat tracked off Taiwan's east coast for first time, private patrol report says

A Chinese fishing boat that Taiwanese officials identify as part of the People's Liberation Army's maritime militia was tracked off Taiwan's Pacific coast in mid-August together with a China Coast Guard cutter and a research ship, Reuters reported on Thursday, 8 October. The news agency described it as the first known sighting of a militia craft in those waters.

The vessel, the Minfudingyu 07902, appears in a surveillance report by Apex Aviation, a Taiwanese company better known for pilot training and charter flights. According to the report, a reconnaissance aircraft operated by the firm detected the Chinese group more than 30 nautical miles off Hualien county. The company asked that the exact date of the sighting be withheld, citing the risk of counter-reconnaissance against its flights.

Two senior Taiwanese officials told Reuters that the fishing boat, coast guard cutter 2502 and the research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 03 were operating near Taiwan in mid-August. One said the boat belonged to the militia fleet Taiwan was tracking and was working in coordination with Chinese coast guard harassment drills. The other said the three craft were in an area not commonly used by Chinese vessels and had been designated for heightened monitoring.

Ministry response

Asked about the Apex findings, Taiwan's defence ministry said in a statement to Reuters that China was using law enforcement and scientific research as cover for harassment, and was trying to widen its operating space in peacetime to create the appearance of de facto jurisdiction. The ministry said the military was tracking Chinese activity with reconnaissance assets in coordination with other agencies, including the coast guard. China's Taiwan Affairs Office and defence ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

The Apex report draws on radar screenshots, infrared imagery and automatic identification system data. The company says its civilian light aircraft carries a US-made radar able to detect surface objects as small as 900 square centimetres. Its defence and security director, Honor Hung, said the three Chinese vessels were spread across a radius of about 10 nautical miles, and that a single tracking flight could not establish their missions or whether they were coordinating.

Why the east coast matters

China has stepped up activity off Taiwan's east coast since June with regular coast guard patrols. Taiwanese officials say they believe Beijing is practising for a possible maritime blockade using overlapping military, paramilitary and civilian assets. Taipei regards the waters off its Pacific side as critical to wartime supply routes from partners in the event of a blockade or conflict.

China's maritime militia, a practice dating to the 1950s that is more often seen around South China Sea flashpoints, is made up of fishing vessels whose crews receive training and support to operate in disputed waters, often alongside coast guard ships. A Global Taiwan Institute study published in August described the militia as central to any Chinese quarantine of Taiwan, from surveillance before an operation to intercepting and blocking ships, and noted that Fujian province alone has at least 12,000 registered fishing boats.

The Apex report follows earlier outside analysis of Chinese activity east of Taiwan. In September, NHK reported that the US analysis firm ingeniSPACE believed a fishing boat had accompanied a Chinese marine survey ship from shortly after it left port in China, and that the two joined Chinese coast guard vessels in waters east of Taiwan. The survey ship had been seen in August in Japan's exclusive economic zone off Hateruma Island. Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration told NHK it was fully aware of the movements and had responded appropriately.

Apex says its patrols are run independently and are not carried out for the government. Reuters noted that the flights nonetheless reflect Taipei's push to involve private companies in technology relevant to its whole-of-society resilience initiative.