China drilling for oil and gas inside Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone
“During July and August at least 12 oil and gas vessels and permanent structures were detected inside Taiwan’s EEZ – including one within 50km of the restricted-waters border of the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands – as well as several steel supports for fixed offshore drilling platforms, called jackets. Their presence inside Taiwan’s EEZ have not been previously reported.”
“The assets are large – including at least one vessel measuring more than 240m long with decks equivalent to 1.5 football fields, and two of the largest wellhead platforms in Asia. The report found some had been there for at least five years, with one coming within a kilometre of the Pratas restricted-waters border in 2024. The Guardian has independently located most of the assets using civilian maritime tracking websites.”
“…as a state-owned firm, [China National Offshore Oil Corporation] also works in the interests of Beijing’s political ambitions. In 2012, CNOOC’s chair, Wang Yilin, said in a speech: ‘Large-scale deep-water rigs are our mobile national territory and a strategic weapon,’ according to the Wall Street Journal.”
See also: ‘Rigging the Game: PRC Oil Structures Encroach on Taiwan’s Pratas Island’
https://jamestown.org/program/rigging-the-game-prc-oil-structures-encroach-on-taiwans-pratas-island/