Taiwan coast guard officer blends patrol duty with temple faith
A coast guard officer’s faith and routine show how Taiwan’s deterrence line is lived on Penghu, where patrol work, temple rites and Chinese pressure meet.
On the deck of CG1005, Yeh Chih-sheng carries a uniform, orders and temple charms blessed for safe passage. The first mate’s daily watch in the Taiwan Strait is built on procedure, but it is also shaped by the Five Lords, the guardian deities coastal communities trust for safety at sea and protection from plague.
Patrol duty with temple rites
Yeh is the first mate on a 2,400-ton Coast Guard ship based in Penghu, and he is also an assistant priest at a Penghu temple. He has been involved in ritual life since primary school, helping spirit mediums in ceremonies where deities are believed to descend and deliver instructions, a background that makes his patrol kit as much spiritual as it is operational. He described the Coast Guard as “a tangible backing people can see” and the Five Lords as “a spiritual anchor in people’s hearts.”
Penghu sits on a maritime fault line
It sits on a route through which billions of dollars in trade passes every year, and the Taiwan Strait remains one of the world’s most important shipping corridors, with more than one-fifth of all maritime commerce passing through it and about $2.45 trillion in goods transiting the strait in 2022, according to CSIS.
How deterrence looks at sea
Yeh said Chinese warships and China Coast Guard vessels now often cross the median line that once served as an unofficial buffer and come close to Taiwan’s 24-nautical-mile contiguous zone. His crew’s response is controlled rather than escalatory: water cannon, loudspeakers, LED boards and radio messages are used to warn vessels away.
A sharper pattern around Taiwan
On June 3, 2026, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense detected 21 People’s Liberation Army aircraft, with 14 crossing the median line and its extension during a joint combat-readiness patrol. On June 1, the CCG task group led by CCGS Daishan carried out routine law-enforcement patrols east of Taiwan, China’s coast guard said, calling the operation lawful and necessary to safeguard sovereignty and maritime rights.
That same month, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan had expressed concern about China dispatching coast guard vessels to Taiwan’s eastern waters and harassing commercial ships. On June 24, the United States, Britain, France and Germany warned that recent Chinese activity off Taiwan threatened regional stability and freedom of navigation.
Penghu as a pressure point
In February 2026, a Chinese exercise code-named Justice Mission 2025 appeared focused in part on Penghu and Taiwan’s east, a pattern that fits the present coast guard activity and air patrols around the island.
Faith as a practical source of calm
His charms and command tablets do not replace the Coast Guard’s vessels, radios or water cannon; they travel alongside them, offering a source of steadiness in an environment where Chinese vessels regularly test old boundaries and Beijing frames its patrols as routine law enforcement.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
