Things got hot between China and Taiwan: a coast guard boat was driven away

Taiwan on Tuesday drove away a Chinese coast guard boat that entered waters near Taiwan’s vulnerable frontline islands, a day after China’s coast guard boarded a Taiwanese tour boat amid an escalating dispute stemming from the vessel’s fatal capsize last week.

Chinese coast guard cutter 8029 entered Taiwan waters near Kinmen on Tuesday morning, Taiwan’s coast guard said, adding that it dispatched the cutter and used radio and broadcast to drive off its Chinese counterpart, who left the area an hour later.

According to The Guardian, Taiwan’s coast guard said it will continue to use radar, surveillance and patrols to ensure “harmony and security” in the Kinmen archipelago region, which is Taiwanese territory but located just a few kilometers from the Chinese mainland.

It comes less than 24 hours after China’s coast guard stopped a Taiwanese tourist ship for inspection after it apparently wandered into Chinese waters while avoiding the shoals. Six officers checked the crew’s papers before disembarking about 30 minutes later. Passengers on board told Taiwanese media they were scared during the incident, and the minister blamed the coast guard for causing a “panic.”

The inspection was the first since Chinese authorities announced they would increase patrols in the area in response to the deadly capsize a week ago. Two Chinese people died after their boat capsized in closed waters in Taiwan last Wednesday, The Guardian recalls. Taiwan’s coast guard said the boat, which was carrying four people, was about one nautical mile off Kinmen and fled after being ordered to stop for inspection. The two surviving crew members were detained on Kinmen Island and deported back to China on Tuesday afternoon.

Chinese authorities condemned the deaths and called for a full investigation, saying the “horrific” incident had hurt people on both sides of the Strait and worsened relations.

Taiwan’s initial requests justified the actions of its coast guard, saying the Chinese vessel was within Taiwan’s restricted or prohibited waters but refused to cooperate and sped away.

Family members of the two men killed in the capsize arrived on Kinmen Island on Tuesday to undergo funeral rituals and cremation before returning to China, CNA reported. The six relatives were accompanied to Kinmen by a lawyer, representatives of the Red Cross and the Chinese Association for Cross-Taiwan Strait Relations.

“What we need is to find out the truth about this case and bring justice,” said He Daibo, the son-in-law of one of the victims, Chinese state media reported.

Observers fear the situation will escalate. Beijing calls Taiwan a province of the People’s Republic of China and intends to reunite with the island, and is particularly opposed to the current Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government in Taiwan, which Beijing calls a separatist party. The island’s pro-sovereignty DPP won a historic third term in power in January, and President-elect Lai Ching-te will take office in May, succeeding Tsai Ing-wen, who will step down in accordance with constitutional terms of office. Beijing has not reacted to the election results with any significant hostility, but officials and observers in Taiwan remain wary.

The Taiwanese government has called for calm over the Kinmen incident. The country’s defense minister said their response was to “prevent tensions from escalating” and the military would not actively intervene. However, it also ordered Taiwanese vessels to refuse any future attempts by the Chinese Coast Guard to board for inspections, and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office used the incident to reject the validity of Taiwan’s decades-old designation as “restricted waters,” according to Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is not a sovereign state.

On Tuesday, Taiwan Premier Chen Jinzhen called for rationality and equality on all sides and said Taiwan would continue to support maritime safety and fishermen’s rights.

The US State Department said it was “closely monitoring Beijing’s actions.”

“We continue to call for restraint and a refusal to unilaterally change the status quo that has preserved peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and throughout the region for decades,” spokesman Matthew Miller said at a regular press briefing.