Braving rough seas and hostile weather conditions, the coast guard brought back to Taiwan early yesterday a Keelung-registered fishing boat hijacked two days ago by Chinese crew members who had attempted to sail to China.
The hijacked boat, the Hsinhofa No. 36, was discovered and intercepted by the coast guard at 1:35pm on Thursday, just 37km from the coast of China's Fujian Province, the Coast Guard Administration said.
PHOTO: LEE HUNG-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
"We would have continued our chase even if we had entered into the 22km sea territory of China. We would have stopped the mission only if the hijackers had gone ashore," said Li Mao-jung (李茂榮), group leader of the coast guard's Tamsui-based second ocean patrol.
"We were enforcing the law at the time. I do not think it would have created any territorial dispute with China," Li said.
The coast guard did not meet much resistance as they boarded the Hsinhofa No. 36 and took the eight Chinese crew members into custody.
Seven of the eight Chinese crew members are to be charged with robbery and denying the personal freedom of another. One of the crew is not to be charged as he was not involved in the hijacking. The two Taiwanese on board, the captain and the chief engineer, sustained only light injuries during the incident.
Due to bad weather conditions, the coast guard was not able to bring the Hsinhofa No. 36 back to Taiwan until early yesterday.
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