Focus Taiwan
Date: 09/26/20020
By: Tyson Lu, Yang Ming-chu and Emerson Lim

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) A Chinese spy ship, which had remained in waters off Taiwan's east coast for more than a week, sailed away from the area Saturday morning after Taiwan's Navy sent a ship to monitor its activity.

According to military sources, the intelligence vessel belonging to China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) had been spotted in waters 38-75 nautical miles off the coast of Hualien County since Sept. 18.

Its appearance coincided with live-fire missile tests conducted by Taiwan along its southeastern coast on Thursday.

On Thursday evening, Taiwan's Navy dispatched a Ching Chiang-class patrol ship, which has counter-intelligence capabilities, to monitor the Chinese ship when it attempted to sail closer to Hualien, sources said.    [FULL  STORY]