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
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