Taiwan calls for speedy return of two Kinmen anglers rescued by China

Taiwan’s agency handling relations with China expressed hope on Thursday that the Beijing authorities will expedite the repatriation of two anglers from Kinmen who they confirmed were rescued in waters off the Fujian coast, Central News Agency Focus Taiwan reported.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) made the remarks after Chen Binhua, spokesman of the Chinese State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office, confirmed Monday that two individuals from Kinmen were rescued from a boat after its engine failed early that day.

Chen said the Fujian Coast Guard will arrange for the return of the two men and the boat to Kinmen as soon as possible.

Taiwan’s spokesman, Jan Jyh-horng, said that Taipei’s coast guard contacted their Chinese counterparts shortly after the incident and confirmed the two men were safe and sound.

Jan further expressed hope that the Chinese authorities would honour their promise and send the two men back as quickly as possible. Apparently, China intends to return the two individuals through non-official channels, he added.

Meanwhile, Kinmen County Magistrate Chen Fu-hai also called on China to send the two anglers back home as soon as possible, saying the county government has a fishing boat ready to pick them up any time, as reported by Focus Taiwan.

Earlier this month, Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration (CGA) repelled four Chinese Coast Guard patrol vessels that intruded upon the restricted waters near Kinmen Island, a territory under Taiwan’s control. This marked the second such incident within a span of 24 hours, Focus Taiwan reported.

In a separate incident, Taiwan and China initiated a joint rescue mission following a fishing boat capsizing incident near Taiwan’s Kinmen Islands, aimed at locating two missing crew members, as reported by Aljazeera.

In another recent episode, King Xia, a Taiwanese tourist boat, carrying 23 passengers, was navigating around Taiwan’s Kinmen Islands when it was intercepted by two Chinese coast guard vessels near China’s southeastern coast.

Six Chinese officers swooped on board and carried out a “forced” inspection that lasted about half an hour. They checked the vessel’s route plan, certificates, and licences of its 11 crew members, according to Taiwan’s coast guard, which said King Xia had “veered towards” the Chinese side of the water to avoid shoals.

The unprecedented encounter with Chinese law enforcement at a time of heightened tension between Beijing and Taipei startled Taiwanese passengers on board, CNN reported.

Currently, the prohibited zone around the main islands of Kinmen and Little Kinmen extends eastward about 4 kilometres, southward about 8 kilometres, and north and northeast about halfway to the coast of China. (ANI)