JAMESTOWN CHINA BRIEF: Wind Turbine Among New Structures in Taiwan’s EEZ
Haiyou Anlan Wind Turbine in Taiwan’s EEZ.
Executive Summary:
In June 2026, China National Offshore Oil Corporation placed a 16MW floating wind turbine in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), approximately 50 miles (21.665646, 116.273408) from Taiwan-controlled Pratas Island.
The PRC now has placed over 30 permanent structures across disputed waters in the Indo-Pacific as part of an irregular warfare strategy to normalize its persistent presence and extraterritorial claims.
These permanent structures potentially serve as at-sea platforms for electronic warfare, surface and underwater intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance collection platforms enhancing the PLA’s end-to-end “kill web” (C5ISRT) capabilities.
On August 6, Chinese state media broadcast extensive coverage of a new offshore wind turbine, the “Haiyou Anlan” (海油安澜号), that had entered operation (YouTube/CCTV; Xinhua; Global Times; Lianhe Zaobao, August 6). The coverage framed the turbine, which belongs to the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC; 中国海洋石油总公司), as another win in Beijing’s push for technological and clean energy breakthroughs. One interview describes it as an important achievement under the 15th Five-Year Plan for key offshore wind turbine construction projects, and part of the Chinese state’s vision of itself as a “maritime power” (海洋强国) and an “energy power” (能源强国) (Fengkou, August 6).
The coverage uniformly neglected to mention one crucial detail: the Haiyou Anlan wind turbine has been installed in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). This is not the first time the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has built permanent structures in Taiwan’s waters. In September 2025, the geospatial intelligence firm ingeniSPACE identified a number of PRC oil and gas structures in Taiwan’s EEZ (China Brief, September 2, 2025). ingeniSPACE has now identified the addition of the wind turbine with the assistance of All Source Analysis.
For the full Jamestown Foundation China Brief article click here.