Image for representation purposes only The Chinese Navy has dispatched its largest patrol ship to waters east of Taiwan after Japan and the Philippines announced negotiations to decide their respective maritime boundaries. The Chinese flotilla will conduct patrols with a coast guard formation recently deployed to the same area. A famous Chinese media outlet recently called Japan and the Philippines ‘a source of trouble’ and ‘risk to regional peace’. The two countries have territorial disputes with China, and this particular announcement seems to have angered Beijing even more. In May, the two countries said they would begin talks to map out the borders of their Exclusive Economic Zones and continental shelves that overlap with Taiwan. China called these negotiations “illegal and invalid”. Several Chinese media sources called the Chinese patrol a necessary action in response to illicit Japanese and Philippine activities which encroach upon ‘China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.’ The patrol is being described as a “special maritime traffic law enforcement operation to fully exercise the country’s maritime administrative enforcement jurisdiction and strengthen deep-sea patrol enforcement and traffic control capabilities in key waters”. The Chinese government ships involved in this exercise include Haixun 09, China’s first 10,000-tonne patrol ship. It also features a 7500-tonne hydrographic survey vessel, Haixun 08, the ocean rescue vessel Haixun 06 and the salvage ship Donghaijiu 113. The special patrol would for the first time see Chinese coastguard and maritime authorities conduct a joint exercise in the exclusive economic zone waters east of Taiwan island, enforcing Chinese control over this maritime region, a social media post of a Chinese news outlet read.