BEIJING: China said on Saturday it had launched a new coast guard patrol east of Taiwan, drawing a sharp response from Taipei after a task force last month off the island`s coast caused alarm in some Western capitals.

China`s military operates almost daily around Taiwan, which Beijing views as its own territory. But China has begun using its coast guard to enforce its territorial claims in what Taiwan calls `lawfare` to claim a legal basis for Chinese actions.

The fleet will conduct `law enforcement patrols` in the area, China`s Coast Guard said in a statement, adding it would strengthen such patrols. The coast guard will `firmly safeguard China`s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests`, it added.

Taiwan`s government condemned the new patrol, saying it was an `illegal expansion of power in violation of international law and a disruption of regional stability`.

`The Chinese communists have no sovereignty or related rights in the waters east of Taiwan, have no jurisdiction over these waters, and none of its official vessels have any law-enforcement authority there,` the Mainland Affairs Council, which makes Taiwan`s China policy, said in a statement.

Taiwan`s Coast Guard said it was tracking two Chinese ships and had prepositioned two of its own to sail alongside and monitor them. As of mid-morning the two Chinese ships were 54 nautical miles east of Taiwan`s Hualien, home to a major air base, but outside of restricted waters, it said in a statement.

Taiwan`s Coast Guard will `continue to employ all necessary measures to forcefully expel Chinese vessels harassing our waters, steadfastly defend national sovereignty, and ensure the security of our maritime domains`.

This is the second time in roughly a month that China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has sent coast guard ships into the waters off Taiwan`s east coast. It risks escalating a diplomatic dispute that has drawn in the US, France, Germany and Britain.-Reuters