On the morning of August 12, China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and an Indonesian Navy warship conducted a joint navigation exercise in the waters east of Taiwan. It was the first time China had exercised with a foreign military in these geopolitically sensitive waters.
The announcement a day earlier had drawn a swift rebuke from Taiwan’s authorities, which called the exercise an act of political manipulation, “aimed at creating a false impression before the international community that the Chinese communists have jurisdiction over waters east of Taiwan.” The United States similarly called on China “to cease its continuous military pressure against Taiwan.”
Chinese state media indeed framed the exercises as evidence of its jurisdiction over the area. The Global Times, a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party, quoted Chinese military affairs expert Zhang Junshe describing the exercise as being of “great significance,” both because it was the first of its kind and because it demonstrated “China’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the exclusive economic zone east of Taiwan island.”
The exercise came at a moment when Beijing has increased its operational presence in the waters east of Taiwan in an effort to assert its jurisdiction. After Japan and the Philippines agreed to start delimitation talks over their exclusive economic zones (EEZs), which overlap to the east of Taiwan, China sent Coast Guard and law enforcement vessels to patrol the disputed waters in early June. Although the PLAN has regularly held exercises in these waters, it marked the first time the Coast Guard patrolled the region independently.
