China’s increasingly assertive actions in the waters east of Taiwan threaten regional stability and freedom of navigation, G7 foreign ministers said in a joint declaration published late yesterday following a meeting in Paris.
China, which claims Taiwan as its own, has stepped up activity off the nation’s east coast since June with regular coast guard patrols.
Officials in Taiwan say they believe China is practicing for a potential maritime blockade using overlapping military, paramilitary and civilian assets.
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While France, Germany, the UK and the US have all previously expressed their concern about China’s actions off Taiwan’s east coast, the G7 statement is the strongest unified expression of concern to date about the Chinese activities.
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Following the China Coast Guard’s latest patrol off the east coast last month, Taiwan said China was harassing shipping and trying to exert a fictional jurisdiction.
Taipei regards the area off its east coast as critical to wartime supply routes from allies in the event of a blockade or conflict. China’s military operates around Taiwan on a daily basis.
China is carrying out “area denial” drills in the Western Pacific involving one of its aircraft carriers and other naval formations, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said on Tuesday, following a reported rise in Chinese activities.