Taiwan Affairs Office: Mainland Coast Guard's Law Enforcement Patrols in Waters Near Kinmen Are Reasonable and Legal

The Fujian Coast Guard conducted law enforcement patrols in waters near Kinmen on May 26, with Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Chen Binhua providing same-day political authorization by declaring the operations 'reasonable and legal' and framing them as protective of fishermen on both sides of the strait. The pairing of an operational action with immediate TAO endorsement documents a coordinated messaging pattern in which Beijing normalizes coast guard jurisdiction over waters adjacent to Taiwan-administered islands by embedding enforcement activity within a sovereignty claim — Kinmen, Matsu, and Penghu as inherently Chinese territory — rather than contesting Taiwan's administration directly. This extends the post-February 2024 Kinmen incident pattern in which the PRC has used incremental coast guard presence to erode the informal buffer around the outlying islands without triggering a formal military threshold.