Taipei, Taiwan – Taiwan on Monday claimed recent Chinese maritime operations were "provocative" and "expansionism in disguise" after its coastguard had a "standoff" with Chinese ships on Sunday.

On Sunday, Taiwan's coastguard said its vessels were in a "standoff" with Chinese ships involved in an operation in waters southeast of the island.

In a statement, the coastguard said its vessels had "expelled" four Chinese ships from the island's "restricted waters," and were now 33 nautical miles southeast of the island's southernmost tip.

"Vessels from both sides are still in a standoff," the statement clarified, declaring that it "strongly condemns China's use of the Japan-Philippines negotiations as a pretext to conceal its attempts to create the illusion of 'jurisdiction.'"

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Chinese state media reported on Saturday that the "law enforcement operation" was in response to talks between Japan and the Philippines to draw a boundary in waters east of Taiwan.

China, which asserts Taiwan as its sovereign territory, called the talks "illegal" and claimed exclusive control over the waters.

A day later, Taiwan's National Security Council chief Joseph Wu wrote on X that the exercises are "nothing but expansionism in disguise that threatens regional peace [and] stability."

Defense Minister Wellington Koo said the Chinese actions were "provocative," and told reporters that they were a "cognitive warfare operation" designed to claim that the waters off Taiwan's east coast fell within China's "enforcement jurisdiction."

The incident comes at a time when tensions are escalating in the region, and Beijing regularly conducts military exercises in the waters around Taiwan. A massive $18 billion US-Taiwan arms deal also continues to trigger diplomatic trouble.

Taiwan's coastguard has deployed seven patrol vessels to monitor the Chinese ships, which have since moved further east.