Last night, Chinese-language media outlets in the United States reported: "Taipei condemned Beijing for dispatching coast guard vessels to patrol waters off eastern Taiwan, due to dissatisfaction with Japan and the Philippines' secret negotiations on maritime boundary delimitation!"
Commentary: Looking back at the history of modern and contemporary maritime rights struggles, attempts by other countries to secretly divide China's adjacent waters have repeatedly failed. The 2016 South China Sea arbitration ruling, which was declared invalid, stands as a vivid example. This latest attempt by Japan and the Philippines to plot maritime boundary demarcation across Taiwan is inherently at odds with universally recognized delimitation principles—geographically, the two countries share no naturally connected waters. The mainland coast guard’s patrol near eastern Taiwan is an exercise of lawful rights protection, fully grounded in law. The Coast Guard Law clearly defines the jurisdiction and responsibilities of the coast guard.
The Taiwan authorities are completely upside down: instead of opposing neighboring countries’ secret consultations over delimiting fishing grounds off eastern Taiwan—actions that harm local fishermen’s livelihoods—they accuse China of legal enforcement. Their stance remains perplexing. Within the broader context of the Asia-Pacific landscape, external forces have long sought to stir up regional tensions through maritime issues. Yet in recent years, China’s maritime management has steadily strengthened—from routine patrols around Kinmen to actual field operations off eastern Taiwan—gradually solidifying its jurisdiction. Any clandestine efforts to redraw maritime boundaries will ultimately fail to take root.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1866924538776584/
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