Two Taiwanese coast guard officers and three Chinese fishermen from Xiamen were injured in a clash yesterday morning when a coast guard patrol tried to stop a Chinese fishing boat from poaching in Taiwan’s territorial waters off the outlying islet of Little Kinmen (小金門).
The incident quickly escalated into a standoff between three Taiwanese coast guard patrol vessels and 28 Chinese fishing boats.
It started when a fishing boat from China was spotted at about 1:30am yesterday, fishing illegally in Taiwan’s territorial waters off Little Kinmen — an islet west of the main island of Kinmen, close to China’s southeastern coast.
PHOTO: WU CHENG-TING, TAIPEI TIMES
A cutter from the Coast Guard Administration’s Kinmen unit intercepted the fishing boat and two coast guard officers went aboard in an attempt to inspect it, but they were attacked by the Xiamen fishermen with stones and bamboo poles.
The two officers sustained injuries to the head and ribs and three Chinese fishermen were also hurt.
The Kinmen patrol cutter called for backup and two other coast guard boats rushed to the scene. The Chinese fishermen were arrested and the wounded were taken to hospital for treatment.
One of the three injured fishermen was rushed to the hospital on the main island of Kinmen for treatment, while three others were taken to the coast guard’s Kinmen Office for questioning.
However, during the clash, the Xiamen fishing boat also radioed for assistance and drew a response from 28 other Chinese fishing boats with more than 80 people aboard.
The fishing vessels converged on Little Kinmen’s Luocuo Fishing Port (羅厝漁港), where they staged a stand-off with the coastguard patrol.
The Chinese men on the fishing vessels shouted at the coast guard, demanding the release of the Xiamen fishermen who had been arrested.
Su Sheng-chin (蘇勝欽), deputy chief of the Kinmen unit of the coast guard, went to the port and succeeded in calming the Chinese fishermen after many hours. The 28 boats left Luocuo Fishing Port at 7am.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS