Taiwanese authorities have urged China to explain why it seized a Taiwanese fishing boat off the coast of southern China on Tuesday night, and to release the vessel and the crew.
The Taiwanese boat was inspected by two Chinese coast guard vessels in waters off Fujian Province. It was then taken to a port in the province.
On Wednesday, a senior official of Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration told a news conference that five Taiwanese and Indonesian crew members were on board the fishing boat. The official said the inspection took place outside the waters within which Taiwan claims jurisdiction, although the spot was close to the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands. He said it was inside Chinese territorial waters.
The official called on China not to use political factors to handle the matter, and quickly release the crew.
Noting that Beijing has unilaterally set a no-fishing period in the waters from May to August, the official said the Chinese side may have determined the boat had violated the rule.
Taiwan’s coast guard says there have been three cases in which Taiwanese boats were subjected to inspection by Chinese authorities for alleged violation of the fishing suspension rule, but they were released within two days.
In waters near the Kinmen Islands, China’s coast guard has stepped up routine patrols after a Chinese fishing boat, which was allegedly fishing illegally, capsized while being chased by Taiwanese maritime authorities in February.