China coast guard ship leaves Taiwan waters after 33-hour standoff

A Chinese coast guard ship pulled away from waters near Taiwan’s Pratas Islands after a 33-hour standoff that Taiwan says was marked by repeated radio challenges over sovereignty and a direct test of how far Beijing can push without firing a shot.

Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration said vessel 3501 was first spotted near Dongsha Island at about 7:25 a.m. Saturday and entered restricted waters at 8:34 a.m. Taiwan dispatched the 1,000-ton patrol vessel Taichung, CG-1002, to shadow it, and the encounter ended at about 5 p.m. Sunday, when the Chinese ship was 26.6 nautical miles, or 49.2 kilometers, west of the Pratas.

Taiwan said the Chinese vessel described its presence as a routine mission and repeated Beijing’s claim of sovereignty and jurisdiction over Dongsha. Taiwan’s broadcasts urged the ship not to damage peace and to leave the area, while also rejecting China’s claim that it was preserving stability. The confrontation fit a familiar pattern: pressure, denial and retreat, all short of open conflict.

The Pratas matter because they sit far from Taiwan proper and remain lightly defended by coast guard personnel rather than the military. Dongsha lies about 450 kilometers southwest of Kaohsiung, is administered by Taiwan as a national park, and is staffed by around 300 coast guard personnel. It is one of only two island groups Taiwan still controls in the South China Sea, alongside Taiping Island, also known as Itu Aba, about 1,600 kilometers southwest of Kaohsiung and staffed by about 200 Coast Guard personnel.

Taiwan said this was the sixth time a Chinese coast guard vessel had entered waters near Dongsha this year, and that it had expelled Chinese coast guard ships from the restricted zone in six incidents involving four vessels since the start of the year. The latest episode came after Taiwan said it had already driven away the Chinese research ship Tongji near Dongsha earlier in the week, and after a Chinese reconnaissance drone flew over the Pratas in January.

The broader pressure campaign extends beyond coast guard ships. Taiwan’s Coast Guard says China operates more than 120 oceanographic research vessels, with about 41 near Taiwan, underscoring why a brief encounter around a coral atoll can carry outsized strategic weight. For Taipei, the Pratas are not a backwater. They are a test line in a longer contest over sovereignty, maritime control and the slow accumulation of facts on the water.