Tag: China Coast Guard

China Raises Pressure on Taiwan With Expanded Coast Guard Patrols

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China is opening a new front in its pressure campaign against Taiwan, sending ships to its east to drive home a political point: Beijing claims not only the island itself but also the seas around it. The China Coast Guard announced on Saturday that its ships would conduct “law-enforcement patrols” in the Western Pacific waters east of Taiwan, a self-ruled island of 23 million people that Beijing claims as its territory. The Western Pacific is crowded with commercial traffic and would be a vital arena if Beijing ever tried to…

China Increases Military and Economic Pressure on Japan

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China is intensifying a campaign of pressure on Japan. In recent days, China has banned more Japanese companies from receiving Chinese exports. It and Russia flew bombers near southwest Japan. It has confirmed that two Japanese businessmen in northeastern China were detained. The campaign started in November, when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of Japan said her country could help defend Taiwan — which China considers part of its territory — in the event of a Chinese invasion. China has since reduced flights and academic exchanges, and continued to ban imports…

What It Feels Like To Be the Target of China’s Water Cannons

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The Filipino fishers on wooden boats waved at our vessel, a Philippine fisheries boat, from less than a mile away, but no one on our ship dared to move. Encircling us were two Chinese Coast Guard ships and five Chinese militia vessels. Then came the water cannon. One of the Chinese Coast Guard ships had fired the high-intensity water jet at our boat to prevent us from getting closer to fishermen near the Scarborough Shoal, a triangular chain of reefs and rocks 140 miles west of the Philippines. The blast…

Video Shows China Blasting Water Cannon at Philippines Coast Guard Boat

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By The New York Times The Philippine Coast Guard has released a video that shows a Chinese Coast Guard vessel firing a water cannon at one of its ships, going public with a new complaint of aggressive behavior from China. Two vessels of the Philippines Coast Guard were on what was supposed to be a normal resupply mission 120 miles off the coast of Palawan, when they ran into a Chinese blockade. After a Chinese vessel fired its water cannon at one Philippine ship, it then moved to block it…