Taiwan on Saturday called for the speedy return of an army officer who was rescued by Chinese authorities after losing contact while on a fishing holiday.
On March 18, two men from Taiwan’s Kinmen Island were discovered by China’s Fujian Coast Guard after their boat’s engine malfunctioned.
Chinese authorities said one of the anglers, surnamed Hu, was an active member of the Taiwanese military and accused him of deliberately concealing his identity.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry confirmed on Saturday that Hu was a member of the Kinmen Garrison.
“(He) went fishing during the holidays and lost contact due to heavy fog. He contacted his family and service units and said he had been rescued by the Chinese Coast Guard and was safe,” the Kinmen Defense Command said in a statement.
It added that they were cooperating with other agencies and hoped to “safely return their personnel to Kinmen as soon as possible on humanitarian grounds.”
The Kinmen Defense Command also said it would tell soldiers “not to participate in various dangerous activities during the holidays.”
Another man on the fishing boat, surnamed Wu, was sent back to Kinmen by the Taiwan Coast Guard on Saturday.
According to video footage shared by Kinmen Assemblyman Chen Youren, who was at the dock at the time, Wu’s tearful mother hugged him as he disembarked.
Hu’s mother told reporters that she hopes China will allow her family to visit him.
“Despite messages from my son saying he was safe, our hearts were filled with anxiety when we couldn’t see him in person,” she said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office – the mainland agency responsible for handling cross-strait relations – told China’s state news agency Xinhua that Hu Jintao’s detention was needed “to further verify and understand the situation.”
China claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it would not rule out using force to bring the island under Beijing’s control.
The incident follows an ongoing row between Taipei and Beijing over a fatal boat incident last month.
On February 14, a Chinese speedboat with four people on board capsized near Kinmen while the Taiwan Coast Guard was pursuing the speedboat, killing two people.
The coast guard defended its actions, saying the ship was in “prohibited waters” and zigzag before capsizing, but Beijing accused Taipei of “concealing the truth of the incident.”
Since then, China has said it will step up patrols around Kinmen. Kinmen is a territory administered by Taipei, just 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the mainland city of Xiamen.
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