TAKE CAUTION: The Ministry of National Defense said that it would approach the coming fishing season with caution to prevent an escalation of cross-strait tensions

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 17, 2020
By Huang Hsin-po and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Ocean Affairs Council yesterday said that it has not ruled out the possibility that China is using maritime militias to provoke cross-strait conflict, even though the Ministry of National Defense said that a clash last month between Chinese fishing boats and Coast Guard Administration (CGA) vessels was an isolated incident.

At a cross-agency briefing for the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee, council Minister Lee Chung-wei (李仲威) said that Chinese militias were to blame when Chinese fishing boats rammed coast guard vessels attempting to chase off boats fishing in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone.

The majority of Chinese maritime militias are in the East China Sea, as well as the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) and the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea, Lee said.     [FULL  STORY]