Authorities in Taipei have demanded that Beijing release a boat and its five crew members, who are being held in custody after being caught allegedly breaking a fishing moratorium.
China's Coast Guard seized the Taiwanese fishing boat and its crew of five, forcing the vessel to a port on the coast of mainland China.
The incident adds a fresh flare-up in the area around the Taiwan-controlled defense outpost known as Kinmen. It's likely to increase tension between China and President Lai Ching-te of Taiwan.
The fishing boat, known as Da Jin Man 88, was in Chinese waters about 27 miles northeast of Kinmen, which is an island controlled by Taiwan. Two Chinese Coast Guard ships spotted the vessel, boarded it, and took control of it Tuesday night.
Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration said when it sailed to the area to aid the fishing boat, it was blocked by its naval counterpart, who sent seven vessels in two groups to stop them. A 50-minute standoff followed, with the Taiwanese side finally backing down in an effort to de-escalate the situation. The fishing boat had a Taiwanese captain, one Taiwanese crew member, and three Indonesian crew members.
China said Wednesday that the Taiwanese boat had violated a summer fishing moratorium by using trawl nets to catch fish, the South China Morning Post reported .
“The act was deemed detrimental to fishery resources and marine ecology,” spokesman Liu Dejun said. “The Fujian coastguard boarded the boat, and vessels from Taiwan attempting to interrupt their law enforcement were warned off in accordance with the law.”
Hsieh Ching-Chin, deputy director general of the administration, acknowledged that the five-man fishing boat was operating within China's waters.
“[The Da Jin Man] was located 2.8 nautical miles off the Chinese territorial sea baseline but within Chinese territorial waters,” Hsieh said in Taipei on Wednesday.
While Hsieh declined to comment on whether the actions taken were politically motivated, he did urge Beijing not to let "political considerations" affect how it handled the matter moving forward. Taiwan has requested a "prompt explanation" for the detention and said China needed to "adhere to proper procedures for releasing the boat and crew."
Hsieh called for Beijing to release the boat and crew, saying they didn't deserve to become political pawns between China and Taiwan.
China has seized 17 Taiwanese fishing boats in the past 11 years. The last was in 2007.
"This year, China is different from the past, with stronger law enforcement during the fishing moratorium," Hsieh said.
“Given the summer fishing moratorium in China, we will establish follow-up contact with the [mainland] Chinese authorities through [Taiwan’s] Mainland Affairs Council and the Fisheries Agency," he added.
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The incident took place just a week after a tense standoff in which a Taiwanese Coast Guard vessel intercepted four mainland Chinese Coast Guard ships patrolling the waters near Quemoy, also known as Kinmen.
There is concern that the encounters between the two countries are becoming more frequent and could serve as a catalyst for a regional crisis.
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