TENSIONS in the South China Sea have intensified after Taiwan accused China of conducting an unprecedented coordinated operation involving a coast guard vessel and an oceanographic survey ship near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands, a remote atoll increasingly viewed as a potential flashpoint in the long-running sovereignty dispute between Beijing and Taipei.
Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration said the operation marked the first time Chinese coast guard and survey vessels had been observed working in tandem around the strategically positioned islands, which sit between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong and are administered by Taipei despite Beijing’s territorial claims.
According to Taiwanese authorities, a Chinese coast guard vessel approached waters near the Pratas Islands on Friday, followed by a Chinese oceanographic survey ship on Saturday, prompting concerns that Beijing is broadening the scope of its maritime operations beyond military activities to include coordinated civilian and law-enforcement deployments.
“This is the first observed instance of Chinese coast guard and survey vessels acting in coordination to provoke Taiwan,” Reuters reported Taiwan’s coast guard saying in a statement.
The Pratas Islands, which form part of a protected national park and are lightly defended by Taiwan’s coast guard, have increasingly attracted attention from regional security analysts due to their isolated location more than 400 kilometres from Taiwan’s main island and their strategic position at the northern gateway to the South China Sea.
Taiwanese officials argued that the latest operation reflects a broader campaign by Beijing to strengthen its presence in disputed waters while reinforcing its claim that Taiwan and its outlying territories form part of the People’s Republic of China.
Taiwan National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu strongly criticised the operation, accusing Beijing of pursuing a pattern of coercive behaviour throughout the region.
“These acts are highly provocative. The PRC is a sick bully, causing trouble across the region,” he wrote on social media, accompanying his comments with a map tracking the movements of the two Chinese vessels.
Taiwan’s coast guard said the Chinese vessel repeatedly broadcast messages claiming it was conducting law-enforcement activities and asserting that “Taiwan's future lies in national reunification”.
In response, Taiwanese patrol vessels were dispatched to the area and issued their own radio messages challenging Beijing’s actions.
“Stop undermining peace. You should return and pursue democracy — that is the proper way to serve your country,” Taiwan’s coast guard said its personnel transmitted in response.
Taipei further accused China of attempting to manufacture a perception of administrative control over waters surrounding the atoll through a combination of maritime patrols, surveillance operations and political messaging.
“Taiwan's maritime sovereignty brooks no provocation,” the coast guard said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately comment on the allegations.
Beijing regards Taiwan and all territories administered by Taipei, including the Pratas Islands, as part of China and has repeatedly pledged to achieve what it describes as national reunification. Taiwan’s government rejects those claims, maintaining that only the island’s people have the right to determine their political future.
The latest maritime confrontation is expected to heighten regional concerns over security in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, where China has steadily increased military, coast guard and other state-backed operations in recent years as part of a broader effort to assert its territorial claims and pressure Taiwan diplomatically and strategically. - June 6, 2026
