Taiwan’s coastguard faces frequent Chinese patrols near Kinmen islands, navigating tense waters while avoiding escalation in the sensitive frontline region.
KINMEN: Taiwanese coastguard captain Huang Heng-chun steers his patrol boat through choppy waters with China’s skyscraper-studded coastline clearly visible across the narrow strait.
Huang and his crew remain constantly alert for China Coast Guard ships that have been entering sensitive waters around Kinmen with increasing frequency.
Beijing claims all of Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.
Located just two kilometres from China’s closest point and 200 kilometres from Taiwan’s main island, Kinmen has been on the frontline of cross-strait friction for decades.
China’s coastguard began increasing patrols near Kinmen after two Chinese nationals died during a Taiwan coastguard chase near the archipelago in February 2024.
Since then “their presence has become much more frequent”, Huang told AFP during a rare media ride-along in late October.
Chinese coastguard ships now enter Kinmen’s waters about four times monthly, making “our law enforcement operations have become much more tense”.
From the patrol boat, AFP journalists could see Xiamen’s skyline, the piers of China’s unfinished Xiamen-Kinmen bridge and the city’s new international airport due to open next year.
Analysts and Taipei officials describe China’s patrols as part of Beijing’s “grey-zone” operations against Taiwan using coercive tactics that fall short of acts of war.
The operations also test tactics that could be used in a potential Taiwan blockade.
“Their goal is to make people feel that the waters belong to them,” Huang said.
“But that of course has never been true, neither in the past nor now.”
Taiwan’s coastguard conducts round-the-clock patrols around Kinmen assisted by coastal radar and thermal imaging systems.
They monitor Chinese fishing boats, smugglers and swimmers while shadowing Chinese coastguard ships, according to Chia Chih-kuo of the Coast Guard Administration’s Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch.
The agency faces “insufficient” resources and workforce for “increasingly complex and diverse missions”, Chia said, adding they hoped to secure more funding.
Taiwan’s coastguard remains massively outmatched by China’s fleet, the world’s largest.
When China’s 1,000-tonne ships enter Kinmen’s waters, Taiwan follows them with 100-tonne boats due to shallow coastal waters.
Taiwanese personnel use radios, loudspeakers and LED signs to order Chinese vessels out while carefully avoiding confrontation.
They operate water cannon and a 20-millimetre static machine gun but avoid actions that “could lead to unimaginable consequences”, Huang explained.
“In most countries, the Chinese coastguard would be seen as a major regional navy,” said Alessio Patalano, a maritime strategy specialist at King’s College London.
“You want to push back, but you can’t really suggest to push back too hard,” Patalano told AFP.
Anti-landing spikes along Kinmen’s shores and old military forts facing China recall the archipelago’s battle history.
When Chinese communist fighters won the civil war in 1949, nationalist enemies fled to Taiwan but held Kinmen, which China heavily shelled during Cold War tensions.
The islands maintain strong links with China, which supplies water to Kinmen while ferry services connect islanders with Xiamen for shopping and business.
Beijing wants to integrate Kinmen by deepening economic and infrastructure connections with China.
Coastguard patrols remain “central” to those integration efforts, according to Erik Green of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Some Kinmen locals told AFP they supported closer ties with China to avoid future conflict.
“No one wants a war,” said a woman surnamed Chen whose guesthouse overlooks Xiamen’s skyscrapers.
Chinese tourists expressed strong desires for Taiwan’s reunification with China.
“It must be,” declared 62-year-old Ye. “It feels like home when we come here.”
Despite war risks, Huang remains clear about defending Taiwan’s “sovereignty and jurisdiction” over the waters.
“It’s a necessary act of national duty,” he said.
“As long as we’re here doing our job, it shows we have both the authority and the ability to govern.” – AFP
