Taiwan warns that China’s “authoritarian expansionism” in regional waters will continue unless the international community takes action, according to a senior Taiwanese security official speaking at an international forum. The official, Lii Wen, deputy secretary-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council, describes China’s approach as “incremental salami slicing,” in which Beijing steadily advances maritime and territorial claims over disputed areas.
Lii says China employs a range of tools to apply pressure, including military vessels, coast guard ships, research vessels, and maritime militia, to normalize its presence and assert control. The warning focuses on activity around the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, and the South China Sea, where Chinese ships regularly operate as part of efforts to reinforce claims to contested waters and islands.
In Taiwan’s framing, the strategy aims to shift international waterways into waters treated as internal, reducing the scope for external challenge. Taiwan therefore calls for greater global attention and response to deter further incremental actions.
