China Dispatches Largest Patrol Vessel East of Taiwan After Japan and Philippines Begin Maritime Boundary Talks

Beijing sent a flotilla that includes mainland China’s largest patrol vessel to waters east of Taiwan after Japan and the Philippines announced formal maritime boundary negotiations late last month. The Ministry of Transport ships are expected to conduct joint patrols with a coastguard formation that was dispatched to the same waters last Monday.

The Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily published a commentary on Sunday accusing Japan and the Philippines of becoming “a source of trouble” and a risk to regional peace.

Japan and the Philippines said late last month they would start formal negotiations to map out the maritime boundaries of their exclusive economic zones and continental shelves. Those boundaries potentially overlap with Taiwan’s. Beijing denounced the Japan-Philippines boundary talks as “illegal and invalid”.

State news agency Xinhua described the latest patrol as a “necessary action in response to Japan and the Philippines unilaterally announcing the start of maritime boundary negotiations in the waters east of China’s Taiwan island, gravely infringing upon China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests”.

Japan and the Philippines already have long-running territorial disputes with Beijing. The article was published at 2:50pm on 7 Jun 2026 and updated at 3:40pm on 7 Jun 2026.