00:00This is Taiwan's waters. This is natural waters.
00:04Another case of China's gray zone pressure at sea, this time in the name of scientific research.
00:10The Taiwan Coast Guard says that a Chinese research vessel carried out what Beijing
00:15called a marine environmental survey in Taiwan's eastern exclusive economic zone.
00:20The vessel departed China's Zhou Shan on June 10th and by 8 p.m. on June 18th had reached
00:26waters 41 nautical miles or 76 kilometers east of Hualien and about 50 nautical miles from
00:33Japan's Yonaguni Island. Taiwan's Coast Guard said it has expelled the ship. Taiwan Plus verified this
00:39with Vessel Finder, whose data shows that as of 11.30 a.m. Friday, the ship was sailing back toward
00:45China. Usually when we see survey vessels, they are dual purpose, right? So they're going to have
00:52ostensibly some kind of a scientific purpose. They're doing seabed surveys and those kinds of
00:58things. But almost always, they are also collecting information from military utility.
01:05This survey comes after Beijing carried out what it described as a law enforcement operation in
01:11waters within Taiwan's eastern EEZ last week. In March, Reuters reported that China has been carrying
01:17out large-scale undersea mapping and monitoring operations across the Pacific and Indian oceans
01:23and in the Arctic, gathering data that's critical for submarine operations.
01:28When you're looking at the seabed off the east coast of Taiwan, you're looking at what are the
01:34acoustics and how, you know, and the conditions, the salinity, all of those things as they enable
01:43either Chinese submarines to transit the area or, you know, conversely, U.S. and other submarines,
01:53and, you know, how can you detect them, right? So it's about submarine detection. It's also about
01:57submarine passage. But China's actions go beyond maritime pressure. Alongside the survey mission,
02:04state-run Xinhua News Agency published a report on the Marine Survey, which experts say is part of
02:10China's cognitive warfare. So far, Taiwan's Coast Guard has primarily relied on international law and
02:24the law of the sea as the basis for expelling Chinese vessels. But experts note that a more
02:30nuanced legal approach could potentially be more effective in addressing Chinese vessels in Taiwan's
02:35waters. Klein Wang and Analu for Taiwan Plus.
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