After fatal accident: China sends ships from Taiwan’s Cassis Island and receives its counterpart from Laos

Taiwan’s government says it has discovered several Chinese surveillance and coast guard ships around the Kinmen Archipelago. One ship entered restricted waters there on Monday and four coast guard ships entered restricted waters, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling said in Taipei on Tuesday. “They didn’t stay there long, though. “The Coast Guard responded appropriately and used the radio to ask the Chinese ships to move away,” she said.

Kinmen, with more than 140,000 inhabitants, is located just a few kilometers from the Chinese city of Xiamen in the southeast of the People’s Republic. Although Taiwan has never ruled Taiwan, the ruling Communist Party in Beijing considers the island republic part of China. Therefore, there have been repeated tensions and demonstrations of military power by China in the strait between the two countries.

The deaths of Chinese fishermen worsen the situation

Taiwan Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said the Taiwan Coast Guard was monitoring the situation and that as long as the situation did not pose a threat to ground forces, the ministry had no further comment. Most recently, the deaths of two Chinese fishermen near Kinmen on February 14 have soured relations between China and Taiwan. The unnamed and uncertified boat, crewed by four sailors, entered the waters there and was chased by the Taiwan Coast Guard, causing it to capsize.

Taiwan said the fishermen on the illegal boat tried to evade the inspection. China called it a “malicious incident” and expanded its coast guard presence in the area. A few days after the accident, Chinese officials inspected a Taiwanese tour boat, which Taipei considered a violation of its sovereignty. Beijing’s state media also reported coast guard exercises in the area this weekend.

In Taipei, activists from the Economic and Democracy Union demonstrated on Tuesday in front of the headquarters of a travel company set up there by the Chinese tourism authority. They demanded that Taiwanese people stop traveling to China and boycott Chinese tourism. (sda/dpa)