Taiwan accuses China of intercepting Taiwanese tourist boat near Kinmen Islands

The Coast Guard Taiwan (CGA) charged against his counterpart China for intercepting a Taiwanese tourist boat in the vicinity of the Kinmen Islands, amid tensions over the death of two alleged Chinese fishermen in these waters last week.

The incident occurred around 4:47 p.m. (08:47 GMT) on Monday, when the King Xia ship – which had eleven crew members and 23 passengers on board – was sailing about 5 kilometers northwest of the main island. of the archipelago and was intercepted by two ships of the Chinese Coast Guard.

According to the state news agency CNA, six Chinese coast guard members boarded the vessel and inspected the crew’s documents, then returned to their ships and abandoned the King Xia around 5:19 p.m.

In response, the Taiwanese Coast Guard sent one of its ships to the area to escort the King Xia, which apparently deviated from its original course due to the high concentration of sandbanks in the area.

In this sense, the CGA asked China to work together to “maintain peace of mind” in the vicinity of the Kinmen Islands and the Chinese city of Xiamen, while asking Taiwanese operators to avoid approaching Chinese waters.

Patrols near Kinmen

This same Sunday, the Chinese Coast Guard announced “patrols” in the Xiamen and Kinmen area to “protect the lives and property of fishermen”, in response to the death of two Chinese citizens following a chase by the Taiwan Coast Guard on February 14.

That day, Taiwan’s maritime authorities detected four people aboard a speedboat about 2 kilometers east of Beiding Island, one of the smallest in the Kinmen Islands archipelago, which is located just ten kilometers away. from the southeastern city of Xiamen and another 187 kilometers from the main island of Taiwan.

Taiwanese coastal personnel requested “immediately” The boat was asked to stop for an inspection, but its crew members resisted and fled at full speed, causing the vehicle to overturn and the resulting death of two of them, while the two survivors were brought to justice.

After the event, Beijing accused the Taiwanese authorities of treating the Chinese fishermen – the official press of the Asian country claims that it was a fishing vessel, while the island side did not give any information about the identity of its crew – in a manner “abrupt and dangerous”although Taiwan insisted that the coast guard proceeded “according to law”.

The relatives of the deceased will travel to Kinmen this Tuesday along with personnel from the Chinese Red Cross, announced Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council (the Chinese Executive), who assured that the Taiwanese authorities “They should avoid harming the feelings of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.”

The Kinmen Islands, where around 120,000 Taiwanese live, have been the subject of multiple disputes between China and Taiwan over the decades, highlighting the massive bombardment of 1958, when the Chinese Army opened fire on the archipelago within the framework of the second Taiwan Strait crisis.