Taiwan Coast Guard enforces Dongsha boundary, water-cannons Jin Sha

Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration said Friday that its 4,000-ton patrol vessel Yunlin expelled two Chinese fishing boats that had entered Taiwan-controlled waters near Dongsha Island in the South China Sea on Thursday, using radio warnings and, when one vessel refused to leave, a water cannon before a later tow and handover.

According to a Coast Guard statement carried by Central News Agency and Focus Taiwan, the Dongsha-Nansha Branch detected an unidentified contact about 15.5 nautical miles northeast of Dongsha around 11 a.m. Thursday, placing the track roughly 5.5 nautical miles inside prohibited waters. Yunlin was tasked to investigate.

Around 3 p.m., Yunlin located the Yue Hui Dong Yu 75066 and the Jin Sha fishing about 27 nautical miles east of Dongsha, or about eight nautical miles inside restricted waters. The Coast Guard said both boats were illegally at anchor while fishing. After broadcast warnings, the Yue Hui Dong Yu weighed anchor and departed, but the Jin Sha refused to move.

Following three unsuccessful radio warnings, Yunlin first fired its water cannon upward for 30 seconds from about 200 meters. When that failed, the cutter closed and sprayed the wheelhouse for 90 seconds under low-lethal-force procedures that, the agency said, kept spray clear of deck crew. The Jin Sha then got under way outward, and Yunlin stopped directing the cannon at the boat.

As the fishing boat tried to leave it lost propulsion. Yunlin stood by, launched a small boat to check that the crew was safe, and later, at the Jin Sha crew's request, delivered 35 hot meals by small boat about 8 p.m. Thursday. The cutter then began a tow, with Dongsha detachment boat PP-10032 providing escort.

By about 11 p.m. Thursday the Jin Sha had been towed outside restricted waters. Coast Guard units continued to stand watch until 6:15 a.m. Friday, when the boat was handed to the Chinese work vessel Haiyang Shiyou 681 for tow home, according to the agency's timeline.

Focus Taiwan noted that prohibited waters around Taiwan refer to territorial seas, normally 12 nautical miles from shore, while restricted waters describe a contiguous zone out to 24 nautical miles around Taiwan proper, with distances around Dongsha sometimes measured from nearby reefs. Dongsha, about 450 kilometers southwest of Kaohsiung, hosts roughly 300 Coast Guard personnel and is one of two Taiwan-controlled island groups in the South China Sea alongside Taiping Island.

The Coast Guard said it would keep deploying cutters to uphold maritime boundaries and marine conservation around Dongsha, and it urged Beijing to restrain fishing fleets that it described as increasingly aggressive illegal operators taking multi-ton catches from Taiwan-controlled waters.

Independent Defence Blog reporting, citing the same Central News Agency account, placed Yunlin as hull CG-5003 and noted that Dongsha Atoll is a marine national park where fishing is banned. That report also recalled earlier 2026 encounters near Dongsha and Taiping involving Chinese coast guard and government ships, underscoring a pattern of gray-zone pressure in the northern South China Sea.

Taiwanese media including CTi News carried the same official sequence of detection, water-cannon expulsion, humanitarian meals, tow, and Friday morning handover. For TaiwanDefence, the episode is a same-week snapshot of Coast Guard law-enforcement at Dongsha: non-lethal force first, crew safety checks, and a documented transfer back to a Chinese support ship once the fishing boat was clear of restricted waters.

This report was produced through TaiwanDefence’s automated publishing system and includes links to its supporting sources.