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China coast guard seizes Taiwan fishing boat near Kinmen

Taiwan asks China to release its fishing vessel seized on Tuesday amid tensions in Taiwan Strait.

By RFA Staff 2024.07.03 -- China seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel in waters near the outlying Kinmen islands, Taiwan's coast guard said on Wednesday, the latest in a recent series of incidents that has raised tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

The coast guard's deputy director-general, Hsieh Ching-chin, told a press briefing in Taipei that the boat was detained at a location northeast of Kinmen on Tuesday evening.

The Penghu-registered boat Da Jin Man 88 with six crew, most of them Indonesian migrant workers, was fishing for squid outside Taiwan-controlled waters when the Chinese coast guard boarded it and forcibly diverted it to a port in mainland China.

The Taiwanese coast guard dispatched three ships in an attempt to rescue the fishing boat but had to stop to avoid escalating tensions as more Chinese ships approached the scene, the coast guard said earlier.

China's coast guard said its Fujian branch seized the Taiwanese boat for "alleged illegal fishing activities."

Kinmen is less than 10 km (6.2 miles) from China's Fujian province.

Despite some tacit boundaries between the two sides, Chinese and Taiwanese fishermen often operate in the area without problems.

However, as tension rises between Beijing and the government of Taiwan's new president Lai Ching-te, the presence of Chinese law enforcement vessels around Kinmen has increased.

Beijing noticeably stepped up patrols in the area after an incident in February, when two Chinese fishermen drowned while being chased by Taiwan's coast guard.

China has also announced a unilateral fishing moratorium in the waters it claims.

Hsieh said that China should clarify details surrounding the Da Jin Man 88's detention. Normally, if caught during fishing bans, fishermen are released after paying a fine.

Liu Dejun, spokesperson for the Chinese coast guard, was quoted by China Daily as saying that the boat was engaged in "illegal trawling operations" and the fishing gear used had mesh sizes significantly smaller than the minimum sizes mandated by national regulations, "thereby damaging marine fishery resources and the ecological environment."

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council and the Fisheries Agency are communicating with relevant Chinese authorities to secure the fishing vessel's release, the Taiwanese coast guard said in a statement.

The island's defense minister, Wellington Koo, said last month that China was trying to normalize its increased incursions into the waters around Taiwan's outlying islands.

The Chinese coast guard has reportedly adopted a new model of conducting law enforcement near Kinmen, by expanding its scope and intensity, as well as making it "all-weather enforcement."

Edited by Mike Firn.

Updated with China's reaction.

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