reported on Saturday. Tokyo and Manila said they would start formal talks "to delimit the maritime boundary" of an economic zone and continental shelf between them, angering Beijing. China, which asserts Taiwan is part of its territory, called the talks "illegal" and has claimed exclusive control over the waters concerned.

On Saturday, Beijing's transport ministry organised maritime police from coastal provinces Fujian and Guangdong to "conduct a special maritime traffic law enforcement operation in waters east of Taiwan Island", state news agency Xinhua said. The report did not give details on the operation, including how long it lasted or whether it was still ongoing, and it did not say whether maritime police dispatched ships to the area. The operation was "a necessary action taken against Japan and the Philippines' unilateral announcement they would start 'negotiations on delimiting a maritime boundary'" near Taiwan, Xinhua added. Taiwan said Wednesday it should be consulted on the Japan-Philippines talks. Manila and Tokyo's shared grievances over Chinese maritime territorial claims have seen them draw increasingly close in recent years. Japan and China are in territorial and economic disputes in the East China Sea, where coast guard ships from both sides routinely stage tense standoffs. Beijing has meanwhile deployed navy and coast guard vessels in the South China Sea, in a bid to bar the Philippines from strategically important reefs and islands, leading to a string of confrontations. (Bssnews)