China concluded its special maritime law enforcement operation in the waters off Taiwan’s east coast. That came in a Xinhua News Agency report on Wednesday, June 10.

The report stated that four Chinese vessels were deployed to the area, which inspected 198 passing ships over the course of five days. China’s Transport Ministry announced the operation on June 1, after Japan and the Philippines said they would conduct negotiations over their maritime boundary east of Taiwan. China’s Foreign Ministry asserted the country’s jurisdiction over Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the area.

Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration said on Tuesday, June 9, that five Chinese vessels had already left Taiwanese waters that day, after falsely claiming jurisdiction over them and broadcasting inquiries to three passing merchant vessels. Coast Guard ships responded with their own broadcast stating China was violating international law and instructing the merchant vessels to ignore the harassment.

Also on Wednesday, Chinese Coast Guard vessels entered the disputed waters around the Diaoyutai Islands (claimed by Japan as Senkaku and China as Diaoyu) conducting what they described as a sovereignty patrol. This was the latest in a series of incursions into Taiwanese and Japanese waters. On June 3, Chinese vessels entered the waters around Yunaguni Island in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture and asserted jurisdiction over that area.