Taiwanese security officials have confirmed that a Chinese fishing vessel linked to Beijing’s maritime militia operated alongside a coast guard cutter and a research ship off the island’s eastern coast in mid-August, according to a surveillance report reviewed by Reuters and briefings described to the news agency. The grouping marked the first known sighting of a militia-class craft in the Pacific waters near Hualien County, an area Taipei treats as critical to wartime resupply routes.
The report, prepared by Apex Aviation, identified the fishing boat Minfudingyu 07902 as a dual-use militia platform. It was tracked more than 30 nautical miles offshore with China Coast Guard vessel 2502 and the research ship Xiang Yang Hong 03 spread across a roughly ten-nautical-mile radius, Apex’s defense director Honor Hung told Reuters. Apex asked that the exact date be withheld, citing safety concerns about counter-surveillance against its civilian patrol aircraft.
Why the east coast matters
Unlike the Taiwan Strait, where Chinese warships and coast guard cutters are common, the deep waters off Hualien face the open Pacific and host submarine transit lanes Taiwan relies on in contingency planning. Officials in Taipei have warned for months that Beijing is rehearsing blockade tactics by layering navy, coast guard, militia and civilian research assets around the island.
Two senior Taiwan officials briefed on the August encounter told Reuters the militia boat was designated for heightened monitoring because it was operating in an area Chinese vessels seldom use. They said the three craft appeared to be conducting coordinated “maritime harassment drills,” though a single patrol could not prove command links among them.
Taiwan’s ministry response
Asked about the Apex findings, Taiwan’s defense ministry told Reuters that China was “using law enforcement and scientific research as cover for harassment” and seeking to expand operations during peacetime to create an illusion of jurisdiction. The ministry said Taiwan’s military is using reconnaissance tools in coordination with the coast guard and other agencies, without confirming Apex’s contract status.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office and defense ministry did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on Thursday. Beijing routinely describes its coast guard patrols near Taiwan as lawful enforcement in Chinese waters, a claim Taipei rejects.
Maritime militia in context
China’s maritime militia dates to the 1950s and is more frequently documented in the South China Sea, where fishing fleets operate beside coast guard ships to assert claims. Analysts say the vessels give Beijing plausible civilian cover while still answering to military planners.
Taiwan has previously publicized militia activity near the Strait and around outlying islands, but an east-coast sighting suggests Beijing is probing surveillance gaps on the island’s less populated shoreline. Hualien’s mountainous terrain limits ground-based radar coverage compared with western population centers.
Civilian patrols and “whole of society” resilience
Apex Aviation is better known for pilot training and charter flights, yet it has flown a light aircraft fitted with a powerful U.S.-made surface-search radar that can detect objects as small as 900 square centimeters. The company says its patrols are independent and not flown on government contract, though they align with Taipei’s push for private firms to contribute to “whole of society” resilience planning.
Hung said overlapping Chinese warships, coast guard cutters, research ships and civilian hulls continue to create pressure in waters surrounding Taiwan. For Hualien residents, the disclosure adds a concrete data point to civil-defense briefings that had focused primarily on typhoon readiness and eastern military exercises.