Tensions around the Kinmen Islands increased on Tuesday as Taiwan protested China’s boarding of a tourist ship. The Kinmen Islands are off the coast of China but are controlled by Taiwan.
Taiwanese media reported that the Xia Wang, carrying 11 crew members and 23 passengers, was boarded by the Chinese Coast Guard for about 32 minutes on Monday. The Taiwan Coast Guard escorted the ship back to Kinmen and then continued its sightseeing voyage.
Guan Biling, director of the Marine Affairs Commission, told reporters at the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday that the incident “hurt the feelings of our people, caused people to panic, and was not in the interests of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.” Refers to the 160-kilometer (100-mile) wide waterway that separates mainland China from Taiwan, a self-governing island claimed by Beijing as its own territory.
Kinmen Islands scenery
Prime Minister Chen Chien-jen said Taiwan was seeking to ease tensions in the region, which have escalated as the island elected an independent president in January and China increased military activity.
“We hope that this matter can be properly resolved,” Chen said. We hope that both sides of the Taiwan Strait will adopt a rational, reciprocal and cooperative attitude to maintain the security of the sea area from Kinmen to Xiamen, so that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait can communicate in a more healthy and orderly way. “
China is stepping up patrols in waters near Kinmen and its associated islands days after two Chinese fishermen drowned while being chased by Taiwan’s coast guard, which accused the vessel of trespassing.
Taiwan’s coast guard said a boat with four people on board was fishing about a nautical mile off Kinmen, which Taiwan claims as a restricted area mainly for military purposes, when it capsized during a chase. Relatives of the deceased arrived in Kinmen to conduct a traditional funeral and take the ashes home. Two survivors were also flown back to mainland China, Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported.
China blames Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party for the fishermen’s deaths. It also says there is no such thing as “restricted” waters.
A China Coast Guard spokesman said on Sunday that its Fujian unit will regularly monitor the waters along the southern coast of Xiamen (within Kinmen) to strengthen maritime law enforcement.
China’s Foreign Ministry declined to answer questions on the matter, saying it was not a “diplomatic issue” and reflected Beijing’s refusal to recognize Taiwan as an independent political identity with its own legal governing body.
Fishermen from Taiwan and China frequently ply the waters, which have heightened tensions as the number of Chinese vessels, including sand dredgers and fishing boats, has increased significantly in the area.
Kinmen residents complained about noise and sound pollution from the boats, as well as the loss of fishing livelihoods.
Taiwan split from China during a civil war in 1949, but Beijing still considers the island of 23 million people and its outlying islands to be Chinese territory and has been escalating threats to use force if necessary to achieve this goal.
In addition to exerting diplomatic, political and military pressure on Taiwan, China has also sought to bring Kinmen and the Taiwan-controlled island of Matsu off China’s northern coast into its orbit. Taiwanese troops stationed in the area opened fire on drones sent by the mainland in what was seen as a mixed-military-civilian operation aimed at spreading fear and weakening support for the Taiwanese government.
China regularly sends warplanes and naval vessels to the area around the island. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reported that 24 military aircraft and eight warships were spotted operating around the island in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. on Tuesday, adding that 11 of the aircraft crossed the central line of the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan scrambled aircraft, dispatched ships and put its land-based missile defense system on alert, the report said, in standard responses to almost daily displays of force by both sides.
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