According to the Beijing Daily app, on June 29, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiajun presided over a regular press conference.
Bloomberg reporter asked that a Japanese government spokesman stated that China’s coast guards' activities within Japan's "exclusive economic zone" south of Tokuina Island, as well as China's claims to sovereignty over these waters, are unacceptable. What is China's response to this?
Guo Jiaqun stated that China has repeatedly expressed its solemn position. We would like to reiterate that China has exclusive economic zones and continental shelves in the waters east of Taiwan Island. It is reasonable and lawful for relevant Chinese departments to carry out activities in these waters, and there is nothing wrong with it.
He pointed out that Japan and the Philippines have arbitrarily initiated so-called 'sea area demarcation negotiations' without consulting China, which seriously violates international laws and basic norms of international relations, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This action severely infringes upon China's maritime rights and interests, and China will not tolerate such actions.
In order to fully implement China’s maritime administrative law enforcement jurisdiction, enhance the capabilities for deep-sea patrol enforcement and traffic control in key waters, ensure maritime safety, and safeguard national rights and interests, from June 6th to 10th, the Ministry of Transport organized the Fujian Maritime Bureau, Guangdong Maritime Bureau, East China Sea Navigation Support Center, and East China Sea Rescue Agency to carry out special law enforcement and survey operations in the waters off the eastern part of Taiwan Island. These activities aimed to conduct maritime patrol enforcement and surveys in key areas such as the eastern part of Taiwan Island. This is a necessary measure in response to Japan and the Philippines’ unilateral announcement of starting negotiations on the delineation of waters east of Taiwan Island, which constitute a serious violation of China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.
The picture shows the ‘Schematic Diagram of Special Law Enforcement and Survey Operations for Maritime Traffic in the Eastern Sea Areas of Taiwan Island’.
Our country’s 10,000-ton maritime patrol vessel “Hai Xun 09”, the Taiwanese Strait’s large-cruise rescue vessel “Hai Xun 06”, the professional sea route survey vessel “Hai Xun 08”, and the professional rescue vessel “Donghai Jiu 113” jointly carried out this operation. They checked passing ships, reminded them to comply with navigation rules, detected various maritime violations, and maintained order in navigation; they inspected the navigation aids of ships, verified the identification code information of passing ships, and conducted survey operations in the eastern waters of Taiwan Island. Maritime law enforcement officers also carried out inspections in important anchor grounds, offshore construction areas, high-risk collision zones for merchant and fishing vessels, and areas where submarine cables and optical fibers are laid.
This operation covered a total distance of 1030 nautical miles, with a total surveyed distance of 1025 nautical miles. We inspected 198 vessels passing by, and corrected violations by 3 vessels. This operation strengthened our maritime enforcement and traffic control capabilities in the waters east of Taiwan Island, further improving the level of maritime safety protection.
According to a message on the WeChat official account of the Ministry of Natural Resources on June 18, in order to fully understand the natural ecological conditions of the waters under China's jurisdiction and support marine ecological protection, the Donghai Bureau of the Ministry of Natural Resources conducted a marine environmental survey using the "Xiangyanghong 22" ship in the waters east of Taiwan Island from June 16 to 18.
This survey adopted a multidisciplinary approach to collect data on marine environmental DNA, birds, whales and dolphins, marine chemistry, and hydrological and meteorological conditions. This has laid the foundation for China to better understand the key habitats in this area and to assess the health of the ecosystems. It also provides a scientific basis for the protection of marine biodiversity in this region.
