Taiwan would continue to enforce the law in restricted waters around Kinmen County, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday.
The council was responding after China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Saturday rejected the existence of restricted waters around Kinmen County — a group of Taiwanese islands close to China’s coast — and said that Beijing reserves the right to take further measures after two Chinese died in the area.
The two died on Wednesday after the speedboat they were in capsized while they were being pursued by Taiwanese Coast Guard Administration (CGA) officials. The speedboat had entered restricted waters off the coast of Kinmen and attempted to flee after refusing an inspection by CGA officials.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
“Fishermen on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have been operating in traditional fishing grounds in the Xiamen-Kinmen maritime area since ancient times, and there is no such thing as prohibited or restricted waters,” Zhu said.
Zhu urged Taiwan to release the speedboat and two surviving passengers who were taken into custody.
“The mainland reserves the right to take further measures, and Taiwan will bear all consequences,” she said.
Yesterday, the China Coast Guard said in a short statement that it would boost its maritime law enforcement activities and carry out regular patrols and inspections in the waters around Kinmen and Xiamen, one of the Chinese cities visible from Kinmen.
This is to “further maintain the order of operations in the relevant waters and safeguard the safety of fishermen’s lives and property,” it said.
The MAC yesterday said “neither side of the Taiwan Strait is subordinate to the other,” and that Taiwan would continue to “act in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of China.”
The government would follow the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), under which authorities may take any defensive action necessary if a Chinese vessel enters “restricted” or “prohibited” waters controlled by Taiwan, the MAC said.
“Our authorities will expel or detain vessels crossing our border, in accordance with the law. This has been the case in the past, and [they] will continue to enforce the law in the future,” it said.
Laws regarding restricted and prohibited waters in the area surrounding Kinmen were last amended on Oct. 7, 1992, the MAC said.
“Since then, authorities on both sides have carried out law enforcement and maritime rescue operations according to that amendment, on many occasions,” it said.
The MAC also rejected allegations by the TAO that the coast guard had disregarded the safety of Chinese fishers, saying that Taiwanese authorities have consistently employed “robust and appropriate law enforcement measures.”
The MAC said Chinese vessels intruding in Taiwan’s waters often had no vessel name, no vessel certificate and no vessel registration.
Those intruding have also routinely refused to cooperate with Taiwanese officials, and often attempted to evade being boarded, it said.
“Nobody wants to see incidents occur, but the TAO regularly makes groundless accusations and ignores efforts to investigate the causes of such incidents,” the MAC said.
“For the families of the unfortunate victims, the government has tasked the Straits Exchange Foundation with handling follow-up procedures,” it said.
“We call on both sides to cooperate with each other, to clarify the cause of the incident and to devise ways to cooperate moving forward, which would benefit people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” it added.
Additional reporting by Reuters and CNA
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