China's government said on Wednesday that its coast guard patrols around a group of Taiwanese islands near the Chinese coast were "beyond reproach", and dismissed complaints the boarding of a Taiwan tourist boat had caused panic.

A Chinese coastguard ship sails during a military drill near Fuzhou, Fujian Province, near the Taiwan-controlled Matsu Islands.

China's coast guard this month began regular patrols around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands, which face China's Xiamen and Quanzhou cities, where two Chinese nationals died trying to flee Taiwan's coast guard after their boat entered prohibited waters.

Taiwan said last week a Taiwanese tourist boat operating from Kinmen had been boarded briefly by China's coast guard, triggering "panic", and that this week five Chinese ships entered prohibited or controlled waters.

Speaking at a regular news briefing in Beijing, Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, reiterated it does not recognise any off-limits waters around Kinmen for fishermen, and said that the coast guard did not cause alarm with boarding the tourist boat.

"I don't think there is any issue of panic," Zhu said.

The coast guard carries out its official duties in "their own waters" in accordance with the law to maintain "normal order" and protect the lives and of fishermen and travellers, she added.

"Civilized and transparent law enforcement is beyond reproach," Zhu said.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory despite the island's rejection, has been wary of efforts by Beijing to ramp up pressure on Taipei following last month's election of Lai Ching-te as president. Beijing considers Lai, who takes office in May, a separatist.

China recognises no sovereignty claims by Taiwan, and has accused Taiwan of acting "maliciously" by causing the deaths of the two Chinese nationals on the fishing boat, which had gotten too close to one of Kinmen's heavily fortified islets.

Taiwan has defended its action and accused China of failing to properly control its fishing boats and stop them entering Taiwan's waters around Kinmen, the site of frequent fighting during the height of the Cold War.

Zhu said Taiwan was to blame for its dangerous enforcement actions.

"The relevant parties in Taiwan should respect the fact that both sides of the Taiwan Strait have been operating in traditional waters for a long time, and stop seizing and detaining mainland fishing boats in a rough and dangerous manner."

Taiwan claims five Chinese coast guard vessels entered restricted waters near frontline islands

Taiwan claimed on Tuesday that five Chinese coast guard ships entered into restricted waters around the nation’s sensitive Kinmen islands amid rising tensions between Taipei and Beijing.

A Taiwan minister added that the ships left shortly after being warned by the authorities.

This comes after China stepped up patrols in the waters off the coast of Taiwan’s Kinmen archipelago, days after two of its fishermen drowned while being chased by the Taiwanese coast guard, which accused the boat of trespassing.

The Chinese coastguard’s Fujian division said at the time they’ll regularly monitor the waters off the southern coast of the city of Xiamen – a few kilometres from Kinmen – to strengthen maritime law enforcement, said the coastguard’s spokesperson Gan Yu.

Meanwhile, Kuan Bi-ling, head of Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council which runs the coast guard, told the media that the Chinese boats left the area shortly after they were told to leave.

“The political significance is high, which is a form of a declaration of sovereignty,” she said.

Kinmen, an island with a significant Taiwanese military presence and a frontline just 3km away from Chinese shores, has a history of frequent skirmishes during the Cold War’s peak and is primarily patrolled by Taiwan’s coast guard in its surrounding waters.

However, last week, Taiwan’s Defence Ministry announced that it was not increasing its military presence on the islands near China, including the Matsu archipelago north of Kinmen.

Taiwan’s defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng expressed his hope in parliament for a non-escalatory resolution to the situation around Kinmen, emphasising a desire to avoid combat.

“We don’t want to see any combat conditions occur,” he said.

Last week, six Chinese coast guard officers boarded a Taiwanese tourist boat with 23 passengers and 11 crew members in Kinmen islands.

They stayed on the sight-seeing ferry King Xia for half an hour, checking route plans, certificates and crew licences before leaving, Taiwan‘s coast guard said.

In response, a Taiwan coast guard patrol arrived to escort King Xia back to port

“We think it has harmed our people’s feelings and triggered people’s panic. That was also not in line with the interest of the people across the strait,” Kuan Bi-ling told reporters on the sidelines of parliament in Taipei then.