Defense Ministry spokesman defends coast guard patrols near Taiwan

A Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson on Tuesday stated that China Coast Guard patrols in waters east of Taiwan Island are legitimate and necessary. Chen Xi, the spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, made these remarks in response to media reports that Taiwan's military authorities described the operations as "provocative" and "cognitive warfare".

After Japan and the Philippines unilaterally announced the launch of so-called maritime delimitation talks in waters east of China's Taiwan Island in late May, the China Coast Guard conducted law enforcement operations in these waters in early June. Chen emphasized that Taiwan is part of China and that China has an exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in waters east of Taiwan Island.

"The China Coast Guard's law enforcement patrols are legitimate, necessary, and brook no interference," he said. Chen stressed that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China and that it is the bounden duty of compatriots on both sides to jointly safeguard national sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.

He criticized Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party authorities for "not only responding passively, but also distorting facts, going against the historical trend, and abandoning the position of the Chinese nation".

"Such behavior of forgetting one's roots is contemptible," Chen said.