Coast guard flags about 1,900 Chinese vesselsMAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report saidBy Hung Ting-hung and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerAbout 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about 1,900 as the ministry tracked vessels that participated in the exercises, based on reports by the New York Times and Defense News, Hsieh said. Such a force could be used to directly blockade commercial ports, and starve Taiwan of energy and food, it said. It is relatively easy to monitor Chinese fishing ships that could be commandeered for militia use, but roll-on and roll-off freighters, which the Chinese could commandeer to ferry armored military vehicles, are harder to keep an eye on, Hsieh said. If the ships are suspected of having severed or destroyed undersea cables, they would be boarded and inspected, and prosecutors would be alerted, Hsieh said.
