Taiwan increases security for new president’s inauguration amid threat from China | Politics News

The Taipei Defense Ministry says it has detected seven Chinese aircraft and as many warships around Taiwan in the last 24 hours.

On the eve of Lai Ching-te’s inauguration as Taiwan’s new president, the island’s coast guard stepped up patrols over the weekend amid the increased presence of Chinese ships.

The Taipei Coast Guard Administration said on Sunday it has deployed personnel to “patroll all hours of the day and night” around Taiwan’s three main outlying islands: Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu.

“In order to ensure the safety of the maritime area and the security of the borders during the inauguration ceremony, the Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Division of the Coast Guard Administration of the Oceanic Affairs Council once again implemented a powerful patrol operation… to monitor up close at suspected targets,” he said in a statement.

“The Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Division said that national security work will not slow down during important celebrations,” it added.

Taipei’s Ministry of National Defense previously reported that it had detected seven Chinese aircraft and seven warships around Taiwan in the 24-hour period leading up to 6 a.m. Sunday (10 p.m. GMT, Saturday).

Lai spent Sunday shrimping with leaders of some of Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies, including Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine.

Only 12 countries currently maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, mostly poorer developing nations.

Lai, detested by Beijing as a “separatist”, is expected to promise to ensure stability by maintaining the status quo in the island’s relations with China in his inauguration speech on Monday.

Before his inauguration, supporters of the opposition Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) will march in Taipei to protest against Lai’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and demand that Lai carry out parliamentary, judicial and constitutional reforms.

‘Dangerous separatist’

China claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, maintaining an almost daily military presence with frequent appearances of fighter jets, drones and warships around the island.

In recent months, it has sent coast guard ships to Kinmen, an outlying island administered by Taipei, located just 5 km (3 miles) from the Chinese city of Xiamen.

Kinmen has been the scene of growing tensions after Lai, whom China called a “dangerous separatist”, was elected in January’s elections in Taiwan.

A deadly fishing incident in February involving a Chinese speedboat sparked a dispute between China and Taiwan that has yet to be resolved.

It was carrying four people and capsized on February 14 near Kinmen as Taiwan’s coast guard pursued it, killing two people.

The Taipei coast guard defended its actions, saying the boat was in “forbidden waters” and was zigzagging before capsizing. But Beijing accused Taipei of “hiding the truth” about the incident.

China has since stepped up patrols around Kinmen. At least five formations of Chinese official ships briefly sailed through the restricted waters of Kinmen this month.

Across the strait, in the Chinese coastal city of Pingtan, which is also home to a military base, the AFP news agency said its reporters saw at least two military transport helicopters flying overhead on Sunday morning.