TAIPEI: Chinese coast guard patrols to the east of Taiwan are "highly destabilising" and an extension of Beijing's legal, political and information warfare against Taipei, the chair of a review commission appointed by the US Congress said on Tuesday.
China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has stepped up activity off the island's east coast since June with regular coast guard patrols.
China recognises no claims of sovereignty by Taiwan, including over the seas around the island.
Officials in Taiwan, which rejects Beijing's territorial claims, say they believe China is practising for a possible maritime blockade using overlapping military, paramilitary and civilian assets.
Speaking at a forum in Taipei, Randall Schriver, chair of the US Congress' US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said one of the most troubling recent developments he had seen was the idea of a persistent coast guard patrol east of Taiwan.
While an ostensibly civilian vessel performing law enforcement duties could seem benign, in fact it is an extension of China's sovereignty claim, he added.
"This is an extension of legal warfare and political and information warfare. This is highly destabilising if they continue to operationalise this law enforcement role," he said.
China's foreign ministry reiterated comments from last week that those waters were Chinese and it was "therefore legitimate, lawful and beyond reproach for China to carry out activities" there.
Speaking at the same event, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu said China had no legal claim to the waters off the island's east.
Later on Tuesday, Taiwan's defence ministry reported China carrying out another "joint combat readiness patrol" near the island with 27 military aircraft, including nuclear-capable H-6 bombers.
Delayed US arms sales
The US is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier, despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties.
However, US president Donald Trump has yet to approve a new US$14 billion arms package for Taiwan, saying in May after meeting Chinese president Xi Jinping in Beijing that such sales were a "very good negotiating chip". In December, Trump approved US$11 billion of arms for Taiwan.
Schriver, a former US assistant secretary of defense, said Trump overall had a good record on approving weapons sales to Taiwan and providing military training.
"However, with Trump and Xi most likely due to meet twice more this year, at the Apec summit in China and the G20 in Florida, there would probably only be movement on the new package next year," he added.
"I think they'll find a way, whether it's splitting the package up or reimagining some of it as DCS or FMS," Schriver said, referring to direct commercial sales and foreign military sales.
"And I know that the support is there again in Congress and from much of the bureaucracy," he said.