The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said that it had tried to rescue a Chinese hot-air balloonist who crashed into the ocean during an attempt to land on the contested Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) on Wednesday before he was picked up by the Japan Coast Guard.
According to a report by Japanese public broadcaster NHK, the Japan Coast Guard was informed by its Taiwanese counterpart of the man’s distress call.
The NHK report said that the Chinese man, later identified as Xu Shuaijun (許帥軍), 35, told Japan Coast Guard personnel that he left China alone to fly to the islands, which Japan claims and calls the Senkakus, and which are also claimed by Taiwan and China.
Photo: AFP / JAPAN COAST GUARD
Although Xu was rescued by the Japanese first, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) yesterday reiterated that the Diaoyutais are the territory of the Republic of China, adding that the concerned parties cooperated in rescue efforts out of humanitarian concerns.
CGA Secretariat Director Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said that upon receiving information from National Rescue Command Center, the Coast Guard Administration dispatched the 800 tonne-class Mou Hsing to search for the balloonist.
Taiwanese fishing ships operating in waters surrounding the area were also told by the Fisheries Agency to help locate the missing man, Hsieh said.
The National Rescue Command Center reported that the balloon crashed into the ocean about 17 nautical miles (31.5km) off the south of the Diaoyutais at 2:26pm on Wednesday, Hsieh said.
The Mou Hsing returned to normal patrol duties when the CGA received information from the Japan Coast Guard that the man was rescued at about 3pm about 18 nautical miles off the south of the islands, Hsieh said.
A Japanese patrol ship rescued Xu and handed him over to a Chinese patrol ship on Wednesday night after negotiations through diplomatic channels, the NHK reported.
Beijing declined to acknowledge any Japanese role in his rescue.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) told reporters only that a “Chinese coast guard vessel patrolling in waters of the Diaoyu Islands (釣魚群島) learned that one Chinese balloonist fell into the water.”
“The coast guard vessel came to the waters where the accident took place to help the balloonist and the relevant person has been rescued and transferred to the Chinese side,” he said at a regular briefing in Beijing.
The man was drifting inside Japanese territorial waters when he was picked up, the NHK reported.
Xu took off from China’s Fujian Province on Wednesday morning, a Japan Coast Guard official said.
It was an ambitious goal — hot-air balloons travel largely at the mercy of the wind, and the Diaoyutais are tiny specks in the East China Sea, 359km from his take-off point.
Xu sent a request for help several hours into his flight and ditched in the sea.
Xu, a cook, last year became the first man to pilot a hot-air balloon over northeast China’s Bohai Bay.
On his verified account on a Chinese microblogging site, Xu posted a short message declaring that he had been returned safely to Fuqing in China’s Fujian Province.
“I have returned safely,” Xu wrote. “Thanks everyone for your concern.”
His supporters wrote back with words of support, with many declaring him a “hero” who had done well even if he had fallen short of his target.
Xu did not post any further details on his voyage and did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in two microblog postings in September last year, he excitedly made note of his plans.
In one he shared a photograph of a red Chinese flag with islands in the background.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)