The Guardian-Taiwan chases Chinese coast guard boat away from frontline islands amid heightened tensions
February 21, 2024 4 min 677 words
这篇报道揭示了台湾与中国之间不断升级的紧张局势。中共近期加强巡逻引发激烈争端，尤其是因一起致命倾覆事件。报道中提到中国海警船进入台湾附近海域，引发台湾海警的紧急应对。这一事件发生在中国海警登船检查台湾游船的前一天，进一步加剧了紧张氛围。 值得关注的是，两岸关系一直备受关注，尤其是在台湾民进党连任后，北京对其持敌意态度。报道中指出，中国官方对此次事件发表强烈谴责，声称这一“恶劣”事件伤害了两岸人民，并使关系进一步恶化。 在这种紧张的背景下，国际社会也开始关注，美国国务院表示密切关注北京的行动，敦促各方保持克制，不做单方面改变现状，以维护台湾海峡及整个地区的和平与稳定。 这一系列事件凸显了两岸关系的脆弱性，引起观察人士的担忧。在这种情况下，各方需要保持冷静和理性，以避免局势进一步升级。
Taiwan on Tuesday drove away a Chinese coast guard boat that entered waters near its sensitive frontline islands, one day after China’s coast guard boarded a Taiwanese tourist boat amid an escalating dispute sparked by a fatal capsize last week.
A Chinese coast guard boat, numbered 8029, entered Taiwan’s waters near Kinmen on Tuesday morning, Taiwan’s coast guard said, adding that it dispatched a boat and used radio and broadcast to drive away its Chinese counterpart, which left the area an hour later.
Taiwan’s coast guard said it will continue to use radar, surveillance and patrols to ensure the “harmony and safety” in the area around the Kinmen archipelago, which is Taiwanese territory but sits just a few kilometres from the Chinese mainland.
It came less than a day after China’s coast guard stopped a Taiwan tour boat for inspection, after it appeared to stray into Chinese waters while avoiding shoals. Six officers inspected the documentation of crew before disembarking about 30 minutes later. Passengers on board told Taiwanese media they were scared during the incident, and a minister accused the coast guard of triggering “panic”.
The inspection was the first since Chinese authorities announced they would increase patrols in the area, in response to the fatal capsize a week ago.
Two Chinese people died after their boat capsized inside Taiwan’s restricted waters last Wednesday. Taiwan’s coast guard said the boat, which was carrying four people, was about one nautical mile from Kinmen, and fled after being told to stop for inspection. The two surviving crew were detained and held on Kinmen, and deported back to China on Tuesday afternoon.
Chinese authorities condemned the deaths and called for a full investigation, saying the “vicious” incident had hurt people on both sides of the Strait and worsened relations.
Taiwan’s early inquiries defended the actions of its coastguard, saying the Chinese vessel was well inside Taiwan’s restricted or prohibited waters, but had refused to cooperate and sped off.
Family members of the two men killed in the capsize arrived on Kinmen island on Tuesday to hold funeral rituals and a cremation before returning to China, CNA reported. The six relatives were accompanied to Kinmen by a lawyer, officials from the Red Cross and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits.
“What we need is to find out the truth of the matter and give us justice,” said He Daibo, the son-in-law of one of the decease, according to Chinese state media.
Observers are wary of the situation escalating. China’s ruling Communist party claims Taiwan as a province and intends to annex it, and is particularly opposed to the current Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government in Taiwan, which it labels as a separatist party. The pro-sovereignty DPP won a historic third term in power in January, and president-elect Lai Ching-te will be inaugurated in May, succeeding Tsai Ing-wen who will step down under constitutional term limits. Beijing has not responded to the election result with any significant hostility, but officials and observers in Taiwan remain on alert.
Taiwan’s government has called for calm over the Kinmen incident. Its defence minister said “not escalating tensions” was their response and the military would not actively intervene. However it has also told Taiwanese vessels to refuse any future attempts by China’s coastguard to board for inspections, and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office has used the incident to reject the legitimacy of Taiwan’s decades-long designation of “restricted waters”, under Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is not a sovereign state.
On Tuesday Taiwan’s Premier Chen Chien-jen urged for rationality and equality on all sides, and said Taiwan will continue to uphold maritime safety and fishers’s rights.
The US state department said it was “closely monitoring Beijing’s actions.”
“We continue to urge restraint and no unilateral change to the status quo, which has preserved peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and throughout the region for decades,” spokesperson Matthew Miller told a regular news briefing.
Additional research by Chi Hui Lin