TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Coast Guard chased two Chinese coast guard vessels out of restricted waters near the Dongsha islands, reports said Wednesday.

Dongsha is a disputed coral island in the South China Sea administered as part of Kaohsiung City. The Coast Guard suggested that China might have timed Wednesday’s intrusion to coincide with the Han Kuang 41 military drills in other parts of Taiwan, per CNA.

The Coast Guard first spotted a ship 45 km south of Dongsha at 00:50 a.m. A patrol vessel hurried to the scene to force the Chinese ship to leave.

However, after it had arrived at a point 35 km southeast of the island at 1:17 a.m., it discovered a second Chinese coast guard ship. The Taiwanese crew monitored both ships and broadcast warnings.

At one point, less than a couple of kilometers separated the two sides, but the Chinese ships left at 11:35 a.m. in a south-southeasterly direction. 

Neither of the ships had switched on their Automatic Identification System, meaning they wanted to remain undetected, the Coast Guard said. The system automatically broadcasts the ship’s position, course, speed, and identity to other ships.

The Coast Guard said it could not rule out the possibility that China had sent the ships to test the state of Taiwan’s defenses during the Han Kuang drills.