China could try to disrupt public morale ahead of President William Lai’s (賴清德) one-year anniversary this week, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday, after images circulated on social media of a person planting a Chinese flag on a Taiwanese beach.
On Sunday, two videos posted on Chinese social media showed a man speaking with a Chinese accent claiming to have sailed across the Taiwan Strait on a small boat landing on a remote beach and planting a Chinese flag.
The man said that he sailed solo from a beach near Fuzhou Changle International Airport in China’s Fujian Province on Thursday, landed in Taiwan the same day, and then returned to China.
Photo: CNA
A GPS screenshot shown at the end of one video indicated a location along the coast of Taoyuan’s Dayuan District (大園), an area dotted with onshore wind turbines.
CGA Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) yesterday told a news conference that although a preliminary analysis had ruled out video forgery, the man did not appear dehydrated or sunburned — conditions typically expected after such a journey.
The CGA has requested assistance from the National Immigration Agency and the Ministry of National Defense, and is reviewing surveillance footage to verify whether the man actually entered Taiwan and whether he received any help inland.
Photo: screenshots from X
The videos, each less than 40 seconds long, had earlier appeared on Douyin (抖音), the Chinese version of TikTok, but were later removed.
The CGA said their removal does not affect its investigation.
On Friday, two Chinese nationals — a father and son — used a rubber dinghy to illegally enter a beach in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音), 10.9km from the site purportedly shown in the videos posted on Sunday. They were arrested shortly afterward.
Hsieh said that while both incidents were possible, the Guanyin case appeared more credible based on the claimed departure points and fuel amounts involved.
He also acknowledged that the small size of inflatable boats poses a challenge to radar detection and that limited staffing further complicates surveillance efforts.
The number of infrared thermal imaging cameras installed along Taiwan’s coast remains insufficient amid intensifying Chinese incursions, he added.
The CGA has sought additional funding to install more cameras and other surveillance equipment.
Citing China’s “Joint Sword-2024A” military exercise following Lai’s inauguration on May 20 last year, Hsieh said the recent illegal entry cases could be part of Beijing’s strategy to sow confusion in Taiwan around the anniversary of Lai’s first year in office.
So far this year, the CGA has documented five illegal entry cases involving 38 people. All but two were apprehended on site.
Hsieh emphasized the need for harsher penalties for illegal entry.
Under the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法) and the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民 關係條例), those who enter Taiwan without authorization can be sentenced to up to five years in prison or fined up to NT$500,000.
However, offenders in so-called “quasi-smuggling” cases have typically received jail terms of no more than eight months or were only fined, Hsieh said.
In other developments, the CGA yesterday deployed patrol ships to repel more than 30 Chinese “three noes” fishing boats — no name, no registration, no flag — that entered the marine territory off Penghu County’s Cimei Island (七美島).
Penghu fishery crews yesterday morning reported sighting more than 30 trawlers suspected of coming from Chinese ports, about 36 nautical miles (66.7km) southwest of Cimei, heading in a northwest direction.
As the Chinese government is enforcing its offseason fishing ban off its coastal waters, it is unusual for such large numbers of fishing vessels to appear in the area, Penghu fishers said.
Additional reporting by Reuters and Liu Yu-ching
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
UNITED: The other candidates congratulated Cheng on her win, saying they hoped the new chair could bring the party to victory in the elections next year and in 2028 Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday won the party’s chair election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes. It was the first time Cheng, 55, ran for the top KMT post, and she is the second woman to hold the post of chair, following Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who served from 2016 to 2017. Cheng is to succeed incumbent Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Nov. 1 for a four-year term. Cheng said she has spoken with the other five candidates and pledged to maintain party unity, adding that the party would aim to win the elections next year and
RSS