Taiwanese tourists on board a Kinmen cruise ship had a scare yesterday when it was intercepted by Chinese coast guards who forcefully boarded the vessel to inspect it.
The Sunrise, a tourism ferry that operates between Kinmen and Xiamen, China, was sailing around the waters around the islets of Dadan (大膽) and Erdan (二膽) — both of which are part of Kinmen County — yesterday afternoon when it encountered personnel from China’s Fujian Coast Guard Bureau.
China Coast Guard personnel forced their way on board and conducted an inspection for about 30 minutes before leaving, local media cited the tourists as saying.
Photo: screen grab from the China Ports Web site
The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch received a report about the intrusion and dispatched two vessels to the site and escorted the ferry back to Kinmen at about 5pm, local media reported.
The Sunrise had about 20 tourists on board. Several passengers told local media they were scared they would not be able to come back to Taiwan.
The CGA called on China to uphold peace and rationality and jointly maintain tranquility in the waters around Xiamen and Kinmen. At the same time, it also reminded Taiwanese operators to avoid going near Chinese waters when engaging in maritime-related activities.
The Maritime and Port Bureau, meanwhile, said the move undertaken by China was inconsistent with international norms.
The incident came as several Chinese patrol boats yesterday morning began operating off the coast of outlying Kinmen County, days after Beijing declared it did not recognize the waters as “prohibited” or “restricted.”
China Coast Guard vessels were navigating in waters to the east, southeast and south of the main island of Kinmen, with the smallest one being 15m long and the largest 92m, ship tracking data on the China Ports Web site showed.
At 11:15am, four ships were on duty, ranging in length from 24m to 92m.
The move cane after a speedboat from China’s Fujian Province capsized off the east coast of Kinmen on Wednesday last week while it was being pursued by Taiwanese authorities. Two of the four people on board died.
Taiwan’s coast guard had pursued the speedboat because it had entered restricted waters around Kinmen and refused an inspection.
China Coast Guard spokesperson Gan Yu (甘羽) on Sunday said the Fujian Coast Guard Bureau would enhance maritime law enforcement and carry out routine patrols in waters near Xiamen and Kinmen to “safeguard order in pertinent maritime regions and guarantee the safety of fishing crews’ lives and property.”
On Saturday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said “fishermen on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have been operating in traditional fishing areas around Xiamen and Kinmen since ancient times.”
It rejected the existence of “prohibited” or “restricted” waters as defined by Taiwan.
Taiwan on Sunday said that under Taiwanese law, it has the right to expel or detain vessels that trespass into its “restricted” or “prohibited” waters.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that China’s refusal to acknowledge the “restricted” or “prohibited” waters around Taiwan showed that it was attempting to unilaterally invalidate the Republic of China’s sovereignty.
DPP Legislator Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) said “China should make a return to past norms ... and not undermine cross-strait relations.”
Additional reporting by Hsieh Chun-lin
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