A group of legislators who were on an inspection tour in Kinmen yesterday made a spur of the moment decision to try to sail directly to China. Only high waves and mechanical problems stopped them from heading to Xiamen in China's Fujian Province.
Legislators from the Transportation and Communications Committee
PHOTO: WU CHENG-TING, TAIPEI TIMES
The legislators were originally scheduled to sail to Tatan
According to the legislators, they were trying to sail for Xiamen directly from Kinmen in order to challenge the government's ban on direct transportation between Taiwan and China.
Although local officials tried to convince them not to sail to Xiamen because of the high waves yesterday, Chen and the other lawmakers insisted on making the trip. Local officials then asked them to take the coast guard boat, which is bigger and safer. Chen and his colleagues turned down the suggestion and chose to make the trip on the boat they had.
After 30 minutes, however, the group was forced to turn back to Kinmen because of the high swell and minor mechanical problems. According to local police, even though the lawmakers didn't want to turn back, police would have been forced to stop them once they passed the center line dividing Taiwan's and China's territorial waters.
According to Chen's assistant, the group wanted to prove that a "happy sailing" (
Meanwhile, Mainland Affairs Council (
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