Politics Taiwan: China's coast guard detains fishing boat
Taiwan is demanding an explanation for the detention of several sailors and their fishing boat by the Chinese coast guard near a Taiwanese island. A spokesperson for Taiwan's coast guard said this the morning after the incident. It is now also known that two of the fishermen are Taiwanese and three are Indonesian. He demanded the release of the cutter. No statements were initially available from the Chinese side.
03.07.2024, 07:33
SDA
According to Taiwanese sources, China's coast guard stopped the fishing boat from Taiwan late on Tuesday evening (local time) near the island of Kinmen, which lies in the strait (Taiwan Strait) between the two countries. According to the report, the cutter was around 24 nautical miles northeast of the island, outside of Taiwan's jurisdiction. Kinmen belongs to Taiwan, but is only a few kilometers from the Chinese mainland. China's coastguard had stepped up patrols there in recent months after two Chinese fishermen died in a chase with the Taiwanese coastguard in February.
Fishing boat now in China
According to the Taiwanese coast guard, the Chinese officials boarded the fishing boat and brought it to a port in the Chinese province of Fujian on the mainland shortly afterwards. Taiwan's coast guard said it tried to send two more ships to help the cutter, but one was intercepted by three Chinese coast guard boats and told not to interfere.
Taiwan's coast guard demanded the immediate release of the fishing boat "Tachinman No. 88" and its crew. Beijing should prevent political manipulation that could damage relations between communist-ruled China and the democratic island republic of Taiwan, it said. The communist leadership in Beijing considers Taiwan to be part of China's territory.
Pressure on Taiwan since new government
Since the inauguration of Lai Ching-te as Taiwan's new president, Beijing has increased the pressure on the country, which has been democratically governed for decades. There are repeated concerns that China could launch an invasion, which the leadership in Beijing has already threatened to do.
