Taiwan opens an ocean survey centre, saying 74 Chinese ships have mapped the seas around it

President Lai Ching-te on 13 November unveiled a new National Ocean Technology Operations Center in Kaohsiung, a body that will run Taiwan's fleet of ocean survey ships and its national ship model laboratory. At the ceremony, the head of the Ocean Affairs Council said Chinese coast guard and research vessels had spent years collecting data on the seabed and waters off Taiwan.

Ocean Affairs Council minister Kuan Bi-ling said council figures show that at least 74 Chinese coast guard ships and scientific survey vessels have gathered seabed topography, geological and hydrological data in Taiwan's contiguous zone over the past decade. She said Chinese researchers had published at least 65 international papers based on those surveys, and described this as an attempt to take control of how the waters around Taiwan are defined and discussed.

Kuan placed the surveys alongside other pressure from Beijing. She said China has kept up military exercises and harassment by coast guard and maritime militia vessels to apply gray-zone pressure on Taiwan, and that research and survey ships have long been collecting data in Taiwanese waters. Taiwan, she said, cannot afford to know less about its own seas than others do.

The new centre was formally established on 2 September as an administrative legal entity overseen by the Ocean Affairs Council. Its founding statute cleared the Legislative Yuan in June last year and took effect on 10 August. The council's deputy minister, Wu Hsin-hsiu, serves as chairman, while National Academy of Marine Research president Chen Chang-ling is acting chief executive, according to United Daily News.

The centre takes over two sets of facilities from the marine research academy. The first is a planned fleet of three ocean survey ships of 100, 300 and 4,000 tonnes, meant to work from near-shore waters out to the deep ocean. United Daily News reported that the 100-tonne and 300-tonne ships, built by CSBC Corporation, are due to be delivered in the second quarter of next year, and that the 4,000-tonne ship from Singapore's Marco Polo Shipyard is due for completion in 2029.

The second is the national ship model laboratory at Xingda Port in Kaohsiung, which will have a seakeeping basin, a rotating-arm basin and a model workshop. China Times described the laboratory as the last mile of Taiwan's indigenous submarine programme. According to United Daily News, its core equipment is due to arrive in the first quarter of next year, with the main building finished and in trial operation at the start of the following year.

In his speech, Lai said the sea is vital to Taiwan's economy, supply lines and national security. He said that building up independent data on the hydrology, geology and ecology of nearby waters would improve maritime domain awareness and decision support and strengthen national security, while also helping the shipbuilding and marine industries. He had attended the launch of the 100-tonne and 300-tonne survey ships in Kaohsiung in August.

Kuan said the survey fleet and the model laboratory would also round out Taiwan's push to design and build its own naval ships, and that their value would depend on attracting skilled staff. She used the ceremony to appeal for ship designers, hydrodynamics specialists and marine engineers to join, saying the pay was good. National Security Council deputy secretary-general Lee Wen was among the officials at the event, according to the Presidential Office.