Recent weeks have seen a string of Chinese boats – many without any name or identification – illegally entering Taiwan's waters. The coast guard is responding, but faces both single trespassers and more complex intrusions.
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00:00Off Taiwan's Penghu Islands, a Chinese fishing boat rocks through choppy waves, its crew
00:07hunting for squid.
00:09It doesn't have permission to be here.
00:11And some local fishermen will later claim its crew is aggressive, stealing the catch
00:16and even the fishing gear from other boats it comes across.
00:19By the time the Coast Guard arrives, though, this tiny vessel has disappeared out to sea.
00:24After arriving at the sea, we only found the vessel.
00:28After inquiring the crew on site, we found that the vessel was missing.
00:34We will continue to investigate the suspicious vessel.
00:37But this wasn't the only Chinese trespasser in Taiwan's waters in recent weeks.
00:42Taiwanese fishing crews sighted two other Chinese boats elsewhere off the same island
00:46chain Sunday.
00:48The Coast Guard is bringing in bigger patrol ships to meet this challenge.
00:52Boats like these may not just come to fish.
00:55Some military analysts see them as a test, probing Taiwan's resolve and ability to defend
01:00its own waters.
01:01It's a so-called Chinese type, a new type of hybrid warfare, which is conducted by Beijing.
01:08Actually, not only the so-called gray zone, and even it's involved about maritime resources.
01:16For example, China sends large fishing vessels even to the South Pacific, close to Argentina.
01:27And while sometimes only one or two boats may be involved, there are also cases of more
01:31sophisticated intrusions elsewhere.
01:34In February, a team of six motherships released 29 smaller fishing boats into waters Taiwan
01:40has designated as a Marine National Park, a place where no fishing is allowed.
01:45The Coast Guard reports that often, these boats fly no flag, and have no name or home
01:49port painted on the side.
01:51It's also common practice to turn off signaling that would let the Coast Guard know they're
01:56there.
01:57Within 12 nautical miles, the radar of the patrol boat will be able to detect the target.
02:03If it detects a mainland fishing boat, we will use radar to detect it.
02:06The mainland fishing boat will be by the side of the boat, with a steel rod to block our
02:10boat's lights.
02:11Not all Chinese boats are getting away, though.
02:14On Sunday, the Coast Guard seized this Chinese oil barge, which it suspects was helping other
02:19Chinese boats refuel off Taiwan's northwest coast.
02:23The six crewmembers had no ID.
02:25It expects to sort out punishments in the next three months.
02:28When we went to the 20 nautical miles northwest of Yong'an, we found that there were no Chinese
02:35boats.
02:36Our team immediately brought them back to Taipei.
02:42Chinese social media has taken an interest in these incidents.
02:45But the Coast Guard says reports it's abused Chinese crews are untrue.
02:50It says it will continue to uphold Taiwan's sovereignty in its waters.
02:54But the recent wave of unidentified Chinese boats means it has a lot of work to do.
02:59Alex Chen and John Vantriest for Taiwan Plus.