Family members and crewmates of a deceased Kinmen Island ship’s captain have accused China maritime police of causing the captain’s death, while intruding into Taiwan’s coastal territory, and have demanded that the Mainland Affairs Council and the judiciary investigate.
Cargo ship DeWang No. 2 (德旺二號) crew members said four Chinese officers boarded the vessel on Sept. 21 while in the coastal waters of Kinmen Island, after the DeWang No. 2 returned from Quanzhou City in China’s Fujian Province.
During the incident, cargo ship captain Lin Ming-chun (林明濬) fell overboard. His body was found two days later by a search helicopter from the National Airborne Service Corps 2.3 nautical miles (4.25km) off Kinmen Island.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
De-Wang No. 2 crew member Chen Shih-kun (陳詩坤) said he was kicked in the leg when the Chinese maritime police boarded the vessel and was ordered to lie down on the deck during the incident. He later heard that someone fell overboard.
“They spoke with Chinese accents, and they wore Chinese military uniforms,” Chen said.
“These officials barged inside the ships cabin to search for something for more than 20 minutes,” he said.
Chen helped to identify the uniformed officers who came aboard the ship using photographs provided by the Kinmen authorities.
The officers Chen identified were of China’s Xiamen City maritime police Seal patrol unit.
Lin’s wife has accused the Chinese maritime officers of entering Kinmen Island’s coastal territory. She said Lin was overpowered with a stun gun, as he was knocked unconscious and drowned after falling into the sea.
Kinmen County Councilor Chen Tsang-chiang (陳滄江) of the Democratic Progressive Party told a press conference on Friday that there are many unanswered questions regarding Lin’s death and urged the council to make requests through the cross-strait dialogue mechanism to urge a Chinese investigation into the incident.
“The Chinese maritime police entered illegally into our coastal zone, their action has violated Taiwan’s sovereignty. We must demand justice for Lin, a victim of violence by the Chinese officers,” he said.
“When Lin fell into the sea, the Chinese maritime police did nothing, and they did not alert Taiwanese officials to carry out a search and rescue mission,” he said.
Officials from Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office said they would ask the International and Cross-Strait Legal Affairs Department at the Ministry of Justice to deal with their counterparts in China and to seek an investigation by Chinese authorities into the incident.
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