Taiwan coast guard to offer civilians rewards for reporting Chinese activity

PHOTO CAPTION: Taiwan Coast Guard patrol ships and helicopters from National Airborne Service Corps are seen during a drill held about 4 nautical miles out of the port of Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, June 6, 2015. REUTERS/Pichi Chuang

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's coast guard said on Friday it would offer rewards worth thousands of dollars for spotting Chinese activity at sea, including warships or submarines, saying it was harnessing "people power" to boost its own limited workforce.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained for the past five years of stepped up Chinese military activity, and the Taiwanese coast guard has increasingly been involved in patrolling sea areas.

China's coast guard's involvement in these activities has grown, which Taiwan officials say is part of a "grey zone" strategy that stops short of war and aims to enforce what China calls its right to manage and control the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan's coast guard said there was a growing threat at sea.

"The coast guard has limited manpower and there is endless people power at sea," it said in a statement.

"In order to build a dense notification network at sea and along the coast, and to eliminate grey area attacks, the coast guard calls on Taiwan's people to raise their awareness of maritime security and stay alert to the abnormal activities."

The highest reward of T$200,000 ($6,245) will go to those reporting piracy, murder, arson or hostage taking, while reporting illegal entry of Chinese nationals will net T$50,000, the coast guard said.

For what it called "substantiated" reports of Chinese warships, including submarines, in Taiwan's waters then T$3,000 per case would be offered, it added.

The coast guard has come in for criticism in Taiwan for failing to spot some cases of Chinese nationals crossing the strait and landing on the island, people who mostly used small boats that are hard for radars to detect.

In June, Taiwanese fishing boats in the strait took pictures of a Chinese submarine that had surfaced.

Taiwan has been boosting investment in its coast guard with larger more modern ships, some of which can be equipped with missiles in the event of war.

($1 = 32.0150 Taiwan dollars)



(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)