The Mainland Affairs Council yesterday confirmed that Taiwan and China are expected to sign a deal today to repatriate the remains of two Chinese who drowned when their unmarked boat capsized off Kinmen County.
The comments came hours after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) in a Facebook post geotagged in Shanghai said that the two governments had achieved a breakthrough in negotiations over the high-profile incident.
A Chinese boat — which bore no markings and carried a crew of four Chinese with no identification documents — capsized in February after it was chased by a Coast Guard Administration (CGA) patrol vessel.
Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration
Two of the crew died, while two were rescued and briefly detained before being returned to China.
The council in a statement said that the two sides’ negotiators had agreed on the repatriation of the bodies and the boat, and that a meeting was scheduled for today at the Everrich Golden Lake Hotel in Kinmen.
Earlier, Chen said that Taiwan had struck a deal in a show of “humane spirit and goodwill” after months of contentious talks with Chinese officials.
“Through the hard work and the sincere hopes of many, the storm in the Taiwan Strait will pass to bring a future of sunshine,” she said.
According to CGA statements, the coast guard patrol vessel spotted the unauthorized boat during a patrol in restricted waters 1.1 nautical miles (2km) east of Beiding Island (北碇).
As coast guard vessels approached to carry out an inspection, the boat tried to flee by zigzagging across the water, but collided with one of its pursuers, causing it to capsize, the CGA said.
The two crew members rescued later identified themselves as Chinese, the CGA said, adding that it also recovered the boat and the two bodies.
Kinmen residents have reported seeing an increase in the number of Chinese sand dredgers taking sand from the ocean floor, as well as an increasing number of Chinese fishing boats just off the coast.
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