Taipei: Taiwan’s coast guard announced on Friday that it will offer significant rewards for citizens who report Chinese military activity at sea, including sightings of warships or submarines, as part of a strategy to augment its own limited workforce. The move comes amid increasing concerns over China’s escalating military presence in the region.
For the past five years, Taiwan has expressed growing concerns about China’s expanding military activities around the island, including its coast guard operations. These operations, Taiwan officials argue, are part of a “grey zone” strategy that aims to assert China’s claim over Taiwan without crossing into direct military confrontation. This approach includes frequent maritime incursions designed to assert China’s authority over the Taiwan Strait.
To combat this, Taiwan’s coast guard, facing limitations in manpower, is now leveraging its citizens to report suspicious activities at sea. In a statement, the coast guard emphasized the necessity of public participation in ensuring the security of Taiwan’s maritime borders, noting the “endless people power at sea”.
“To build a dense notification network along the coast and effectively address grey area incursions, we are calling on the people of Taiwan to remain vigilant and report any unusual activity,” the statement read.
As an incentive, the coast guard has outlined a range of rewards for valuable reports. The highest payout, T$200,000 (approximately $6,245), will be given for reporting serious crimes such as piracy, murder, arson, or hostage-taking at sea. Reports of illegal entry by Chinese nationals will earn T$50,000, while substantiated reports of Chinese warships or submarines spotted in Taiwan’s waters will result in T$3,000 for each verified sighting.
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Taiwan’s coast guard has faced criticism for failing to detect several instances of Chinese nationals crossing the strait and landing on the island, particularly those using small boats that radar systems struggle to detect. In June, Taiwanese fishing vessels in the Taiwan Strait managed to photograph a Chinese submarine that had surfaced.
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In response to these challenges, Taiwan has been investing in modernizing its coast guard fleet, including the acquisition of larger, more advanced ships, some of which could be equipped with missiles should the situation escalate to war.
