India, June 25 -- Great Britain, France and Germany on Wednesday issued a rare joint statement expressing alarm over Chinese activities east of the self-ruled island of Taiwan, where China earlier this month deployed coast guard patrols.

The de-facto embassies of the three European nations in the Taiwanese capital Taipei said the "novel Chinese activity," which was not specifically identified, endangered regional stability.

China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its breakaway province and has not ruled out the use of force to annex the island, called the manoeuvres earlier this month a "maritime traffic enforcement and hydrographic survey operation." Chinese state media said the activities were "sending a pointed warning"...