Taiwan says it will spend more on defending its own waters and wants help from allies and shipping companies, a sign that pressure from Chinese vessels around the island is growing.

• Taiwan's National Security Council says China is using coast guard ships, "research" vessels, maritime militia, cargo ships and sand dredgers to push false claims and intimidate its neighbors.
• The stated goal of those moves is to pressure countries along the first island chain and disrupt and delay shipping and trade.
• Taiwan set up a new cross-agency system in June to feed merchant ships reliable information and advise them to refuse illegal orders from Chinese coast guard ships.
• Taipei wants to copy the Philippines' approach of publicly exposing harassment at sea, and is pushing for shared maritime intelligence, drones and non-lethal tools for early warning.
• Officials laid out priorities under the label TENACITY, covering shipping and communications, energy, navy-coast guard coordination, convoys, insurance, transshipment plans and foreign support.

Outlook: Expect more joint drills, more public naming of Chinese harassment, and closer coordination with shipping firms and partner governments as gray-zone pressure continues.