Taipei: China's deployment of scientific research and survey vessels in waters east of Taiwan and beyond carries a military motive -- to prepare for denying foreign naval vessels access to strategically important waters, a Taiwanese coast guard captain said Wednesday. Speaking at the Taiwan International Ocean Forum, Arthur Yang, captain of the Coast Guard Administration's (CGA) Sixth Offshore Flotilla, highlighted research vessels as one of China's tools for harassing Taiwan, alongside coast guard and flag-of-convenience ships.

According to Focus Taiwan, China has increased the activity of its research vessels in waters east of Taiwan since Tokyo and Manila announced in May that they would begin talks on an area -- also claimed by China -- where the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines overlap. Citing a report by the Institute for the Study of War, an American think tank, Yang, who is stationed in the eastern county of Hualien, said China extensively mapped the waters east of Taiwan and the Bashi Channel between 2023 and 2025. He also cited CGA data from July 2023 to September 2025 showing that 41 Chinese research vessels it monitored were deployed to the second and third island chains, and the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.

"We must be clear. This is not scientific research. This bathymetric and hydrographic data serves Beijing's anti-access/area-denial strategy," Yang said. "This global expansion confirms these missions are dual-use operations designed to support China's military strategic objectives," he added. Asked to elaborate, Yang explained that while scientific research is typically conducted within a defined area, Chinese research vessels have operated across the first island chain, which extends from Japan to Borneo, and into the Atlantic and Indian oceans, suggesting their activities had "gone beyond the scope of research."

Those "research projects" extended far beyond China's exclusive economic zone, and it is unlikely Beijing obtained consent from coastal states before operating in those waters, Yang noted. "It is very likely that China was covertly conducting [A2/AD preparations]," he concluded.