Taiwan's coast guard said on Sunday that its ships had "expelled" four Chinese government ships that entered restricted waters off the island's south after the two sides broadcast testy warnings to each
Taiwan's coast guard said on Sunday that its ships had "expelled" four Chinese government ships that entered restricted waters off the island's south after the two sides broadcast testy warnings to each other, in an escalation of tensions.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has been angered by Japan and the Philippines saying last month they would begin formal talks on delimiting their maritime boundary, viewing that as involving waters off Taiwan.
Late on Saturday, Chinese state media said that ships had been sent to carry out a "special maritime traffic law-enforcement operation" in the waters east of Taiwan in response to the Japanese and Philippine announcement.
Taiwan's coast guard said that four Chinese ships, including three coast guard vessels, had sailed on Sunday afternoon into Taiwan's restricted waters 30 nautical miles southwest of the island's southern tip.
Taiwan sent seven coast guard vessels to warn away the Chinese ships, and late afternoon Sunday all four Chinese government vessels were "expelled" from the restricted waters, it said in a statement.
Taiwan's coast guard published a recording of the Chinese warning to the Taiwanese ships in which an unidentified officer says: "These are waters under Chinese jurisdiction.
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