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Description

Key Takeaways

  • From 17-23 July, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) deployed a 3,000-ton fisheries research ship, the Lan Hai 201, to waters east of Taiwan. China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, which owns the vessel, declared that the cruise was intended to “comprehensively understand the state of fisheries resources in China’s jurisdictional space.”
  • During its cruise, the Lan Hai 201 engaged in survey activities in the EEZs of Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines, in clear violation of their sovereign rights to regulate fisheries resources under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
  • On 22 July, the Lan Hai 201 operated just 35 miles off the coast of the Philippines Itbayat Island, in the Batanes. These are the same islands whose sovereignty was questioned in a PRC academic workshop organized by Jinan University in late May.
  • The operations of the Lan Hai 201 were therefore likely designed to suggest ambiguity about the status of the Batanes, punishing Manila for commencing maritime boundary negotiations with Japan in waters east of Taiwan.
  • The Lan Hai 201 also operated near the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa prefecture, in waters that clearly fall within Japan’s EEZ. This segment of the cruise was likely intended for similar purposes: i.e., to raise questions about Japan’s sovereignty over the Ryukyu Islands, resurrecting a tactic it used in 2013.

Publication Date

7-28-2026

Publisher

China Maritime Studies Institute, U.S Naval War College

City

Newport, Rhode Island

Keywords

China Maritime Studies Institute, CMSI, Chinese Navy, PLAN, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, East China Sea, South China Sea, EEZ, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, UNCLOS

CMSI Note 22: Testing Boundaries: The Lan Hai 201 Mission East of Taiwan

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