A former Taiwanese military officer held in China for nearly five months after he was rescued by Chinese authorities during a fishing trip finally returned home yesterday.
The angler, surnamed Hu (胡), from Kinmen County was found with a friend on March 18 by the China Coast Guard off China’s Fujian Province after their boat’s engine failed.
His friend was repatriated a few days later, while Hu — an active member of the military at the time — was held as Chinese authorities accused him of intentionally concealing his identity.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Jessica Chen (陳玉珍) yesterday accompanied Hu’s parents and daughter on the first ferry service to Xiamen, China — just 5km from Kinmen — to bring him home.
Chen livestreamed their return at about noon on Facebook, showing Hu holding his daughter’s hands as they disembarked from the ferry.
“I miss home, I miss home very much,” he told reporters at the dock. “This was just an accident and it’s good that it can be resolved smoothly.”
Photo courtesy of KMT legislatorChen Yu-jen
Hu’s family had applied for him to be discharged from the military two months after he was detained in China, hoping to speed up his return.
The Kinmen Defense Command in March said that Hu had gone fishing while on vacation and lost contact due to heavy fog.
It has urged soldiers “to refrain from participating in various risky activities during their vacation” following the incident.
Hu’s case came in the wake of a row between Taipei and Beijing over a fatal boat incident in February.
A Chinese boat carrying four people capsized on Feb. 14 near Kinmen, while being pursued by the Coast Guard Administration, leaving two dead.
The coast guard defended its actions, saying the boat was in “prohibited waters,” but Beijing accused Taipei of “hiding the truth.”
Last week, Taiwan said it had reached an agreement with China to resolve the dispute, and the victims’ families agreed that “the cause of death was drowning.”
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