TAIPEI, Oct. 19 -- The crew of the Taiwanese fishing boat Wan Fa Cheng 11 was working southwest of Kaohsiung on Sunday when a Chinese research ship and a steel-hulled Chinese fishing boat began interfering with their operations. The coast guard ship Pingtung steamed to the scene to protect them, Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration said, and it was only one of four confrontations the agency says China staged at the same time.

The others were strung along the island's coastline. The research ship Tansuo-3 entered restricted waters east of Hualien, where a patrol boat from the Taitung unit broadcast orders to leave. Beidiao 996, another research ship, crossed into restricted waters southwest of Eluanbi after midnight and turned away only af...