Taiwan’s coast guard sent new patrol vessels to test the waters off of Hualien on Tuesday. Experts are saying that Taiwan could be warming up for joint exercises with the United States coast guard. That’s after the US and Taiwan signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between their coast guards in March
The 4,000 ton Chiayi patrol vessel left the Hualien harbor on Tuesday for exercises.
The exercises included the 4,000-ton Chiayi patrol vessel, the 1,000-ton Taitung patrol vessel, the 600-ton Anping vessel, and a 100-ton guard vessel.
A local media report said they were conducting joint exercises with the United States. But the Coast Guard Administration said the exercises were conducted to familiarize new vessels with nearby sea conditions, and to plan hydrologic and route testing around the island.
It said that reports of US-Taiwan coast guard exercises off the coast of Hualien are untrue, but it does not rule out possible future cooperation.
Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said that the United States and Taiwan coast guards signed a memorandum of understanding on March 25 and set up a working group for future cooperation.
This agreement and the response by Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration shows that joint sea exercises between US and Taiwan coast guards are likely.
Lawmaker Wang Yu-ting says such exercises would be enforcing marine law, and so would not officially count as joint military exercises. However, such exercises would show closer ties between the US and Taiwan and the forming of a structure for military alliance
The US and South Korea began military drills on Tuesday. Is there a connection to future US-Taiwan joint coast guard exercises?
Defense expert Su Tzu-yun at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research says that the US military is making adjustments to its naval forces. The coast guard’s status enables it to play a more flexible role and it’s very possible it will conduct joint exercises with allies. That’s especially as China conducts gray zone military activities in the region.
The US has been countering these moves by China to try to maintain peace in the Asia-Pacific.