TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Eight Japan Cost Guard cutters were spotted in the Taiwan Strait on Saturday (Sept. 5) in an apparent attempt to evade Typhoon Hinnamnor.
On Saturday, as sea and land warnings were in effect for northeastern Taiwan, eight Japan coast guard ships were detected in the Taiwan Strait by naval enthusiasts, including Reimie (PLH-33), Asazuki (PLH-35), Sado (PM-30), Uruma (PLH-04), Nagura (PL-82), Buko (PL-10), Ryukyu (PLH-09), and Zampa (PL-84), according to a PeoPo report.
The appearance of these vessels comes at a time of heightened tensions in the Taiwan Strait with 876 sorties by Chinese military aircraft around Taiwan from Aug. 5 to Sept. 3 that either crossed the median line or entered the southwest corner of Taiwan's air defense identification zone. During this period, Taiwan's Kee Lung-class destroyers, Tuo Chiang-class corvettes, and Coast Guard Administration patrol boats were deployed to monitor Chinese Type 052D destroyers from the People's Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command at close range in waters off of Taiwan's east coast.
On Aug. 13, the Kee Lung-class destroyers and Tuo Chiang-class corvettes left port to keep an eye on People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels. The Navy on Sept. 2 released a video that appeared to confirm claims by a Taiwanese military enthusiast surnamed Li (李) that the eight Japan Coast Guard ships were in the Taiwan Strait, including the 7,000-ton Reimie and Asazuki and 4,000-ton Uruma and Ryukyu.
However, this batch of Japan Coast Guard ships apparently was not sent to monitor PLAN warships, but rather to take shelter from Typhoon Hinnamnor, which was charging up the east of Taiwan and toward Japan's Ryuku Islands at the time. It is expected that after the typhoon departs the area, the Japanese vessels will return to their jurisdictions or continue to perform related maritime duties.
Such actions by the Japan Coast Guard are not unprecedented. In 2019, as many as nine Japanese ships took shelter in the Taiwan Strait. According to reports by Liberty Times, PeoPo, and ETtoday in September that year, seven Japanese Coast Guard ships initially entered the Taiwan Strait and were soon joined by two others, all to avoid Typhoon Lingling, which took a similar path to Hinnamnor.
Yaita Akio, chief of the Taipei Bureau of Sankei Shimbun, on his Facebook page on Saturday wrote, "These actions made China very nervous, and it even dispatched a patrol boat to come and monitor." He added that the dispatching the ships to the Taiwan Strait to avoid the typhoon is reasonable and and only further hammers home the fact that the Taiwan Strait is international waters, rather than the exclusive domain of China.
2022/09/02 07：00
海上保安庁・大型巡視船「なぐら」PL82
台湾海峡を南下中。 pic.twitter.com/2daE42upPL
— やんずJAPAN (@yanzu27) September 2, 2022
7 〔錯誤字元無法儲存〕〔錯誤字元無法儲存〕Japan Coast Guard’s cutters patrolling in 〔錯誤字元無法儲存〕〔錯誤字元無法儲存〕Taiwan Strait today, and 〔錯誤字元無法儲存〕〔錯誤字元無法儲存〕China didn’t say a word. pic.twitter.com/nOrWbRVhnT
— Taiwan Military (@TaiwanMilitary) September 3, 2022
