My Take | Taiwan and US are playing dangerous game off Quemoy
- Stationing elite US troops like Green Berets barely 5km from southeastern coast of mainland China is direct provocation, not an attempt to preserve status quo in Taiwan Strait
Taiwan-controlled Quemoy islands have become politically explosive recently. And so, on Sunday, to add fuel to the flame, Taiwan’s official Central News Agency ran a story claiming mainland China was trying to expand its sovereignty claims by establishing “de facto control” over the maritime area.
“China is repeatedly trespassing in the waters surrounding Taiwan-held Quemoy in a bid to establish ‘de facto’ jurisdictional control of the area and bolster its sovereignty claims,” it said.
That has been pretty much the consensus narrative for Taiwan and its Western friends about recent confrontations around the outlying islands within spitting distance from the mainland shores. The latest brush involved several Chinese mainland coastguard ships reportedly entering the area at the weekend.
Tensions flared last month after two mainland fishermen drowned while their boat was being pursued by Taiwanese coastguard vessels. A more amiable incident came last week when the two sides launched a joint rescue mission after a Chinese fishing vessel capsized near Quemoy, also known as Kinmen.
The area is always going to be politically and militarily sensitive as Quemoy is less than 5km off the mainland’s southeast coast.
But why all these mutually provocative activities now?