For decades, China’s maritime pressure on Taiwan centered on the major shipping strait separating the two neighbors. Now, Beijing is piling unprecedented pressure on its Pacific coast — a vital lifeline with U.S. allies. China has deployed on average two Coast Guard cutters per month east of Taiwan since June, after Japan and the Philippines announced plans to define their overlapping maritime border in the region.
The appearance of those vessels marks the first time such patrols have been reported in the area in data going back to January 2025. Patrols in these waters covered a vast area of 27,100 square nautical miles — more than twice the size of Taiwan — based on Bloomberg calculations using ship-tracking data. Ships stayed 30 nautical miles from the island’s eastern coast, remaining outside Taiwan-claimed waters.
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