Reuters recently reported that a fishing vessel identified as a Chinese maritime militia vessel was operating together with two other Chinese vessels in the Pacific waters east of Taiwan in August this year. It said this was the "first time" such a vessel was found in the waters east of Taiwan.
Military scholars analyzed to BBC Chinese that such ships may undertake tasks such as maritime surveillance and intelligence collection. Since Taiwanese society has paid special attention to the safety of submarine cables in recent years, some experts have discussed that such ships may be involved in reconnaissance activities on submarine infrastructure.
A spokesman for the U.S. State Department told Taiwanese media that the United States continues to pay attention to China's activities in waters east of Taiwan, criticizes China's relevant actions as destructive, and calls on Beijing to stop exerting pressure on Taiwan.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded indirectly on Monday (October 12), saying that the activities of Chinese ships in eastern Taiwan were "legitimate, legal and beyond reproach."
As China has continued to increase its activities in the waters east of Taiwan in recent years, analysts believe that Beijing is gradually expanding its presence in relevant waters and strengthening its legal and maritime rights claims through the joint operation of coast guard, scientific research ships and maritime militia ships.
Close to the "contiguous zone" in Taiwan waters
According to a reconnaissance report reviewed by Reuters and released by Taiwan's private training organization Apex Aviation, a reconnaissance aircraft of the company discovered a Chinese ship formation more than 30 nautical miles off Hualien in eastern Taiwan in mid-August.
The formation consists of three vessels, including the fishing vessel "Fujian Fuding Yu 07902", a China Coast Guard vessel and a scientific research vessel.
Two unnamed Taiwanese officials confirmed to Reuters that three ships were operating off the eastern coast of Taiwan at the time, adding that the "Minfu Dingyu 07902" was part of China's maritime militia system.
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It is worth noting that although the relevant vessels did not enter Taiwan's restricted waters, their activities were quite close to the 24 nautical miles (44 kilometers) Contiguous Zone (Contiguous Zone).
According to Taiwanese regulations, if a foreign ship engages in unauthorized fishing or other illegal activities in the adjacent area, the Coast Guard may conduct broadcasts to disperse, board the ship for inspection, or take other disposal measures in accordance with the law.
Officials interviewed told Reuters that Taiwan has strengthened monitoring of relevant vessels; the Coast Guard responded that the activities of relevant Chinese vessels are outside restricted waters and the entire process is under control.
Taiwan's Defense Minister Ku Li-hsiung said on Monday that if Chinese militia ships and coast guard ships engage in any transboundary behavior, the Coast Guard will serve as the main eviction and law enforcement unit, while the navy will provide assistance in accordance with the support agreement.
When the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to a question from Reuters on Monday, it did not directly respond to the "militia ship" theory, but spokesman Mao Ning said: "China has an exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in the waters east of Taiwan Island. China's activities in this sea area are completely within China's sovereign rights and jurisdiction. They are legitimate, legal and beyond reproach."
"It has never been China that stirs up trouble and undermines stability in this sea area."
In response to the US State Department's comments, Mao Ning reiterated Beijing's statement that "the Taiwan issue is China's internal affair and does not tolerate any external interference" and asked the United States to "handle the Taiwan issue prudently."
What is a "militia ship"?
Mainland China's so-called "maritime militia" is composed of fishermen and fishing boats. It is a "paramilitary force" that cooperates with the Chinese military and coast guard in carrying out tasks when necessary. Because it is "outside the establishment but within the system", it is often called China's "Third Navy" or "Little Blue Men".
Jie Zhong, an associate researcher appointed by the Taiwan National Defense and Security Research Institute, told BBC Chinese that from the appearance point of view, there is often no obvious difference between maritime militia ships and ordinary fishing boats, and they may also engage in fishing activities in normal times.
"But they usually continue to operate during the official fishing moratorium, and they often have more antennas on board than ordinary fishing boats." He said that these vessels are usually equipped with relatively complete communications, satellite positioning and other electronic equipment, and have the ability to perform specific tasks.
Jie Zhong pointed out that Chinese Communist Party publications have disclosed that Chinese maritime militia ships are organized and managed by the military regions of coastal provinces. They usually operate as fishing boats, but they can go to specific sea areas according to mission requirements to perform tasks such as surveillance, intelligence search and reconnaissance, and underwater detection, and cooperate with the Coast Guard and Navy.
"Because it is a civilian ship, it is less likely to trigger alerts. It can also go to sensitive sea areas where military or official ships are not suitable to enter, perform surveillance, reconnaissance and intelligence collection tasks, and broaden the intelligence channels of the Communist military."
According to research by Taiwan's National Defense and Security Research Institute, China's maritime militia can be mainly divided into two categories: one is a professional maritime militia ship that is specially built or modified and has strong mission capabilities; the other is a fishing vessel mobilized through government subsidies to perform policy or rights protection tasks in a specific period.
Appearing in the East for the "first time"?
Reuters revealed the case this time, saying it was the first time a Chinese maritime militia ship had been publicly discovered operating in "the waters east of Taiwan."
However, so far, Taiwan officials have not confirmed that the fishing boat that appeared in the eastern waters was a militia ship.
The Coast Guard responded to the BBC Chinese inquiry and stated that the relevant Chinese ship activities are located outside Taiwan's restricted waters. The Coast Guard has used joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance methods to monitor the movements of Chinese ships in the waters surrounding Taiwan around the clock.
In fact, the Taiwan government has continued to pay attention to the development of China's maritime militia in recent years.
In April this year, Taiwan’s National Security Director Tsai Ming-yan stated in a report to the Legislative Yuan that the size of the CCP’s maritime militia has reached thousands, and the number continues to increase. He also pointed out that in almost all of the CCP’s large-scale military exercises in recent years, maritime militias have participated in the operations.
Zhang Zhonglong, deputy chairman of the Ocean Commission and director of the Coast Guard, said that since 2023, there have been more than 100 Chinese ships that have appeared in the waters surrounding Taiwan and have been judged to have maritime militia background, and relevant units have been listed for tracking and monitoring.
Jie Zhong pointed out that there have been related cases in the past where suspected Chinese maritime militia ships appeared in the waters east of Taiwan.
He pointed out that on July 30, 2021, two large Chinese fishing boats "Qiong Sanya Fishing 72107" and "Qiong Sanya Fishing 72108" entered the waters near Lanyu, about 10 nautical miles from the shore. They were driven away by Coast Guard ships on suspicion of crossing the border. He believed that the two ships were probably not just fishing boats, but maritime militia ships tasked with intelligence collection.
Jie Zhong proposed two observations as basis: first, during the period when China officially implemented a fishing moratorium, the two ships appeared in the waters of Lanyu Island far away from their home port; second, from the footage released by the Coast Guard that year, the number of satellite communication antennas installed on the ship was significantly more than that of ordinary fishing ships.
He also pointed out that at that time, Taiwan's Zhongshan Institute of Science was conducting live-fire firing of multiple weapons in the waters surrounding Pingtung Jiupeng Base, and Orchid Island was located on the southeast side of the relevant training area. Although the content of their mission cannot be directly confirmed, judging from the time and location, it cannot be ruled out that these ships have the purpose of collecting training information.
What is the purpose of militia ships cruising eastern Taiwan?
Taiwanese officials told Reuters that the militia boats that appeared in August were "cooperating with the Chinese Coast Guard's maritime harassment drills" and their purpose was to "carry out substantial harassment."
Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said in a statement to Reuters that China was "using law enforcement and scientific research as a cover to conduct harassment, trying to expand the scope of its operations in non-conflict situations and create the illusion of substantive jurisdiction."
Some Taiwanese experts believe that this is part of China's gray zone intrusion against Taiwan, and that it may have intentions such as deliberately sabotaging submarine cables.
Du Yijin, the founder of the Taiwan Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, recently posted on Facebook that if you compare the submarine topography map around Taiwan with the submarine cable distribution map, you can see that there are many international submarine cables passing through the shallow water areas formed by the east-west and north-south submarine mountains.
He believed that judging from the ship tracks, the three ships had repeatedly moved in the relevant waters and "went back and forth looking for areas to attack (submarine cables)."
There is currently no public evidence that the activities of these ships are directly related to undersea cable sabotage operations, but related speculations still arouse great concern.
Taiwan has experienced numerous incidents of damage to submarine cables in recent years, making the safety of submarine cables an important security issue.
In early 2025, Taiwan's National Security Bureau stated that submarine cable damage has become a new form of gray zone threat to Taiwan from "foreign hostile forces". Its report pointed out that in the past three years, submarine cable breaks around Taiwan occurred an average of about 7 to 8 times a year, and the proportion caused by human factors has increased.
The most high-profile case occurred in February 2025. The expedient ship "Hongtai 58" with Chinese investment background is suspected of sabotaging the "Taipeng No. 3" submarine cable connecting the main island of Taiwan and Penghu. The captain, whose nationality is surnamed Wang, was later sentenced to three years in prison by the court for violating the Telecommunications Management Law and damaging submarine cables.
"More like practice and preparation."
Military scholar Jie Zhong analyzed that this militia ship came to Taiwan waters accompanied by the CCP coast guard ships and scientific research ships. In addition to some scholars' concerns that China may use this to "rehearse" future undersea cable destruction tasks by militia ships under the cover of the coast guard, another possibility is to prepare for expanding the scope of maritime militia activities in Taiwan's eastern waters.
He pointed out that as the main carrier of maritime militia, fishing boats have the status of civilian ships. Therefore, compared with warships or coast guard ships, their movements are less restricted, and law enforcement units must be more cautious when responding. If the Taiwan Coast Guard ships drive away the relevant ships, the Chinese Coast Guard ships may intervene to respond, allowing the maritime militia to evacuate or continue to perform their tasks.
Jie Zhong believes that Beijing may also increase the activities of militia ships in Taiwan's eastern waters to "shape the fact that Chinese fishing boats are engaged in economic activities in relevant waters," further providing a basis for its maritime rights and interests claims.
He pointed out that in the past, during the sovereignty dispute over the Diaoyutai Islands (known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan), China had mobilized fishing boats and official ships to enter the surrounding waters to cooperate with its maritime rights and interests claims.
From the end of May to June this year, China claimed jurisdiction and "exclusive economic zone and sovereignty" over parts of Taiwan's eastern waters on the grounds that Japan and the Philippines had launched exclusive economic zone (EEZ) delimitation negotiations, and dispatched official ships and maritime forces to relevant waters to launch so-called "special maritime traffic law enforcement operations."
Increased frequency and intensity
A report released by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), a project under CSIS, earlier this year pointed out that China’s maritime militia deployment in the South China Sea hit a record high in 2025, with a daily average of 241 ships. Its activities are mainly concentrated on Mischief Reef and Whitsun Reef, which are involved in the sovereignty dispute between China and the Philippines.
In January this year, the New York Times reported that from the end of 2025 to the beginning of 2026, China’s fishing activities showed highly organized characteristics. China’s use of maritime militia ships seems to have shifted from sporadic intrusions in the past to larger regional deployments. The phenomenon disclosed in the report happened just before and after China's military exercises against Taiwan, so it attracted attention.
Lin Chaolun, an appointed associate researcher at the Cybersecurity and Decision-making Research Institute of Taiwan's National Defense Security Research Institute, pointed out in a research article that although there is currently no clear evidence that China has deployed maritime militia on a regular and large-scale around the Taiwan Strait, Chinese fishing boats have long been operating in the northwest waters of Taiwan and around outer islands such as Kinmen and Matsu, and continue to operate across the border even during fishing bans, indicating that "the frequency and intensity of activities of relevant vessels are gradually increasing."
Lin Chaolun pointed out that since the visit of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Pelosi, Pelosi) to Taiwan in August 2022, Chinese militia ships have cooperated with the People's Liberation Army and Coast Guard ships in conducting multiple joint military exercises, "showing that it is developing in a more professional direction."
