China’s coast guard said on Monday that it had carried out “law enforcement” patrols in waters east of Taiwan in response to plans by Japan and the Philippines to begin maritime boundary delimitation talks in an area Beijing claims as its own, escalating tensions over disputed waters in the western Pacific.

Coastguard vessels carried out law enforcement patrols in waters east of Taiwan on Monday, in a ‘necessary action’, a spokesman said.

Taiwan, and the Philippine and Japanese embassies in Beijing, have yet to respond