A Taiwanese naval vessel collided with a Chinese fishing boat while on duty approximately 45 nautical miles off Taichung Port in the early hours of Thursday morning. Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) has dismissed claims that the Chinese fishing vessel had been monitoring Taiwanese military drills.
Koo said on Friday that surveillance on the Zhonghe-class tank landing ship by a single fishing boat was “highly unlikely”, stating that the military has countermeasures in place for potential monitoring activities.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office has criticized the incident, calling it a deliberate aggression by Taiwan’s naval vessel. Koo responded by saying that the Taiwan Affairs Office has always spoken in this way.
Koo says that the military uses joint intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance to monitor the Taiwan Strait and that currently nothing abnormal has been observed. He adds that the Defense Ministry will continue to carry out necessary exercises and will not be affected.