Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhang Han takes reporters' questions on recent hot issues concerning cross-Straits relations on April 1, 2026 during a regular press briefing in Beijing. Photo: VCG

The maritime areas that Japan and the Philippines have announced for delimitation are located east of the island of Taiwan, where China possesses exclusive economic zones and continental shelves, Zhang Han, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, told a regular press conference on Wednesday. 

Japan and the Philippines have bypassed China and unilaterally initiated so-called maritime delimitation negotiations, which seriously violates international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as well as the basic norms of international relations, and gravely infringes upon China's maritime rights and interests, added Zhang.

Zhang's remarks came in response to the recent claims by Lai Ching-te, leader of the Taiwan region, that China is not a coastal state, has no rights to intervene in the Japan-Philippines exclusive economic zone negotiations and that China's legal operations by authorities including the China Coast Guard have fueled regional anxiety. 

The relevant departments on the mainland conducting law enforcement patrols in these waters in accordance with the law is entirely justified and necessary, and it is a righteous action to safeguard national sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, the spokesperson said.

The DPP authorities have turned a blind eye and feigned deafness to the infringing actions of Japan and the Philippines; instead, they have seized the opportunity to vigorously spread "Taiwan independence" separatist fallacies, inciting "anti-mainland" and "resisting mainland" sentiments, noted Zhang, adding that they have already become accomplices of external forces in harming the overall interests of the Chinese nation — vile, shameless, and destined to be held accountable.

Global Times