Coast guard personnel on Sunday arrested a Chinese man who drove a motorboat into a harbor at the mouth of a river leading into Taipei, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday.
The suspicious vessel was monitored after being spotted at about 11am on Sunday, 6 nautical miles (11km) off the coast of Tamsui District (淡水), the CGA said.
After entering the Tamsui River, which leads to downtown Taipei, the boat collided with other vessels at a ferry terminal, the CGA said.
Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration via CNA
The CGA’s Third Patrol Command dispatched officers to apprehend the man and seized his Chinese-registered boat, a source said, asking not to be named.
The man was arrested on suspicion of contravening 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) and the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法), the CGA said, adding that he was transferred to the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning.
The man is a 60-year-old surnamed Ruan (阮), who said he wanted to defect to the Republic of China, sources said.
Photo couresy of the Coast Guard Administration via CNA
He said left the Port of Ningde in China’s Fujian Province on Saturday morning, but no food or drink was found on the boat and Ruan did not appear to have a tan, the sources said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not answer calls seeking comment yesterday, which was a holiday in China and Taiwan.
In March, two Taiwanese fishers strayed into Chinese waters near Kinmen County. One was a Taiwanese military officer and remains in detention in China, while the other was released soon afterward.
During the height of the Cold War, people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait would, on occasion, cross to the other side seeking to defect, but such events are now rare.
Additional reporting by CNA
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