On Wednesday, two crew members of an unnamed Chinese fishing boat drowned when their vessel capsized during an altercation with Taiwan’s Coast Guard.
The incident was reported to have occurred when the four-person ship attempted to evade a Taiwanese patrol approximately one mile from the coast of Kinmen Island. Although part of Taiwan, the 58-square-mile archipelago is only six miles from China’s Fujian province. Beijing has long asserted that all the territory claimed by Taipei is part of China.
A coast guard official in Kinmen, Chen Jien-wen, described the two surviving fishermen as being in “good shape” and stated that the matter was being reviewed by the local prosecutor’s office.
Chinese officials called the embroilment a “malicious event” and accused Taiwan of engaging in “all sorts of excuses to forcefully inspect Chinese fishing vessels and using violent and dangerous methods towards Chinese fishermen.”
In recent years, the Chinese military has been undertaking extensive and regular operations in and around Taiwan's territorial boundaries.
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