TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan said Wednesday that China has ordered Taiwan’s coast guard not to interfere in the detention of a Taiwanese fishing boat, in what is seen as China’s escalating attempt to invade Taiwanese territory.
Taiwan’s coast guard also repeated its call for the release of the boat and its crew who were pulled from the waters off the Taiwan-controlled island of Kinmen, off the Chinese coast, on Tuesday night. This appeal is complicated by China’s refusal to communicate with the Taiwanese government.
Taiwan coast guard spokesman Hsieh Ching-chin said the boat was not in Chinese waters when it was boarded by Chinese agents and taken to a port in China’s Fujian province.
The Dajinman 88 was intercepted by two Chinese ships and Taiwan sent three ships to help, but the one that approached the fishing boat was blocked by three Chinese boats and told not to interfere, according to the coast guard’s initial statement. The chase was called off to avoid escalating the conflict after Taiwanese maritime authorities detected four more Chinese ships approaching, the statement added.
The boat had a captain and five other crew members, according to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency. The crew is Taiwanese and Indonesian.
The ship was just over 20 kilometers (12 miles) off Jinjiang in mainland China when it was boarded, Taiwan authorities said.
China claims self-rule Taiwan as its territory and says the island should be under its control.
Fishermen from Taiwan and China regularly sail the stretch of water near Kinmen, and tensions have risen as the number of Chinese vessels has increased.
In February, two Chinese fishermen drowned while being pursued by Taiwan’s coast guard off the coast of Kinmen, prompting Beijing to step up patrols.
