Taiwan, US agree to hold regular talks on coastguard cooperation

They have formed a working group to improve communication and share information on maritime security in the region
Local media said the two sides could hold joint drills near the island, but Taiwan’s coastguard denied the reports

Tsai Ing-wen

Lawrence Chungin Taipei

Published: 9:00pm, 11 Aug 2021

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Taiwan and the United States on Wednesday agreed to hold regular talks on cooperation between their coastguards, which could include joint drills near the self-ruled island, according to local media reports.

At their first meeting on coastguard-related issues since agreeing to form a working group in March, the US said it would back Taiwan to extend its global reach, including through maritime security cooperation.

“The United States supports Taiwan’s meaningful participation and contribution to issues of global concern, including in maritime security and safety and in building networks to facilitate maritime law enforcement information exchange and international cooperation,” the American Institute in Taiwan said in a statement after the meeting.

The AIT – the de facto US embassy in Taipei – said the two sides had discussed ways to “improve joint maritime responses to search and rescue, disaster relief, and environmental missions, as well as opportunities to improve communication and continue personnel educational exchanges”.

They also discussed work on the common objectives of preserving maritime resources; reducing illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; and joint maritime search and rescue and environmental response efforts, the statement said.

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And they agreed to meet regularly to coordinate on pressing maritime law enforcement and assistance concerns. “The global community faces many shared challenges that are not limited by land or sea borders, and the [working group] is emblematic of the collaboration required of like-minded partners to overcome increasingly complex transnational problems,” the statement said.

The AIT added that international coastguard cooperation provided a critical public good to the global community, giving the examples of aiding stranded cruise passengers during the Covid-19 pandemic, responding to tropical storms, and intercepting illicit drug shipments at sea.

A tiny Taiwan island could be trigger for US-China clash

As the US has sought to counter Beijing, Washington and Taipei have moved closer in recent years and the coastguard working group is just one area where they are cooperating. It is aimed at improving communication and sharing information on maritime security, including in the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing’s increasingly assertive activities are a source of tension in the region.

It also comes as Taiwan is under growing pressure from Beijing, which claims the island as its own.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said after the talks on Wednesday that maritime cooperation with the US represented a further deepening of relations and was an effort to promote peace and stability in the region. Taiwan was pleased to work with the US and other like-minded countries on coastguard and other maritime issues of global concern, the foreign ministry said.

Taiwan’s largest patrol vessel, the Chiayi, was commissioned in April. Photo: Reuters

A day earlier, three Taiwanese newspapers, citing unnamed coastguard officials from the island, reported that cooperation with the US could include joint drills.

They said Taiwan’s coastguard had on Monday sent its largest patrol vessel, Chiayi, and two smaller ships to waters off the eastern county of Hualien for an exercise with their American counterparts.

But the Taiwanese coastguard on Tuesday denied the reports, saying the vessels were conducting a routine training mission that did not involve the US.

The 5,000-tonne Chiayi, commissioned in April, is the first of a fleet of coastguard ships that can be converted into warships to boost the defence of islands controlled by Taiwan in the South China Sea.

They include the Pratas Islands – also claimed by Beijing – where the Taiwanese coastguard plans to hold live-fire exercises in September, according to a recent notice.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: u.s. and taiwan in coastguard deal