Posted on 05/29/2005 9:23:39 PM PDT by bloggodocio
INTRUSION: A Chinese research vessel, which the president said was probably used to gather intelligence, was forced to leave Taiwanese waters by patrol boats By Rich Chang STAFF REPORTER Sunday, May 29, 2005
Advertising The coast guard forced a Chinese research ship, the Fen Dou No.4 to leave Taiwanese waters yesterday morning, after the vessel intruded into Taiwan's territory twice in seven days.
"Chinese research vessels have recently infringed on the boundaries of Taiwan's exclusive economic maritime zone under the guise of oceanic surveys, but they may be trying to acquire military intelligence," President Chen Shui-bian said yesterday, as he watched an anti-terrorism drill conducted by the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) in Kaohsiung.
"The intrusions not only violate the law, but they also have a bad influence on cross-strait ties," Chen said.
Chen said he had asked the CGA to strengthen aerial and maritime patrols in Taiwan's territory.
CGA Minister Shi Hwei-yow yesterday said the Fan Dou No.4 was forced out of the waters south of Taiwan yesterday morning, and that two CGA vessels were stationed near the periphery of Taiwan's maritime zone to prevent the vessel's return.
He said "this is the third time this month that Chinese vessels have entered Taiwan's territory. The recent frequent intrusions of Chinese research ships were seen as unfriendly actions."
He added "the semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) had three times requested Chinese authorities recall the Fan Dou No.4, but it still stayed and refused to leave."
The CGA discovered the Fen Dou No. 4 some 175km southwest of Kaohsiung on the morning of May 22. A CGA vessel and aircraft closed in on the ship to force its departure, but the vessel refused to move.
The CGA said another three Coast Guard vessels arrived at the spot on May 23 in an effort to force the ship to leave, and the ship stopped its operations and left on May 24.
The CGA said, however, that the vessel returned to the waters south of Taiwan on May 26 and conducted operations there.
The vessel was again forced to leave by the Coast Guard yesterday morning, Shi said.
Shi said the Chinese vessels were in violation of regulations requiring that appropriate permission be obtained before entering the economic maritime zone.
The Chinese oil exploration vessel Tan Bao also intruded into Taiwanese territorial waters near the Pratas Islands early this month, and the ship was forced to depart by Taiwanese vessels.
The CGA found that a Chinese research vessel, Xiang Yang Hong No. 14 intruded into the waters south of Taiwan in November 2002, while two Chinese research vessels, the Huai Yang No. 4 and the Bei Dou, appeared in the northern and southern waters of Taiwan in April 2003. Also, the Xiang Yang Hong No. 6 entered the waters north of Taiwan in August 2003.
Taiwanese military experts have said that Chinese exploration vessels frequently appear in waters south and north of Taiwan to conduct hydrographic research for submarines.
I'm waiting for the Taiwanese to detonate an a-bomb. My guess is that if that happens, the current Chinese leadership will be given their retirement watches the next day.
ping
Same here.
I was a Sonar Tech in the Navy for 8 years, and I currently use that skill to search for oil in the Gulf of Mexico by mapping shoals and other underwater hazards. So in my 'expert' (lol) opinion, that's exactly what they were doing.
The plot thickens...
I just hope I'm on the east side of the San Gabriels when Red China returns the technology Clintoon sold to them arcing through space and onto LA.
Why do I keep getting the impression that the fuse has been lit and it is only a short matter of time before we all find ourselves in a big shooting war.
OH WOW Thank goodness there is FR there wasn't I wouldn't hear about this on MSM media
Underwater hazard surveys are an ongoing thing, we're constantly going over the same ground at least every 6 months. You never know when a boat might sink or a hurricane will come and really disturb the sea floor (last hurricane season, there were 36" pipelines that were dragged miles off location). And given the frequency of typhoons in that part of the world, I'd say this might be one of those periodic updates. But I could be wrong...
I figured submarine charts wouldn't have a long shelf life.
The way I read the article, the chinese seemed to have increased thier "Research" activity quite a bit in the past few months.
I can only hope it's just an update and not a prelude to stupidity.
Thank you for your input.
Ping
Yesterday I went offshore fishing out of Fort Pierce Florida.
About 3 miles off the inlet to the southeast there is now a sandbar surrounded by 35 foot deep water. the bar is about 1/4 mile long and wasn't there last year.
This is the result of two hurricanes that hit here in two weeks last year.
Then you have to remember recently the u.S. submarine that hit an underground mountain in the pacific. Wasn't on the charts.
Texas Instruments used to make equipment that would go down 7 miles into the earth to find what was there strata for strata. The U.S. govt bought about 150 of these machines to put special transducers on them and put them in the major sea lanes to monitor where every ship is going using a ships unique engine sounds.
They stopped making these because they came up with a way of using airplanes flying to do the same thing only cheaper.
Now I think the U.S> uses satellites for this purpose.
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