China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Tuesday might be an act of psychological warfare by Beijing aiming to increase pressure on Taipei, National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday.
Chinese officials boarded the boat and then took it to a port in China. It was fishing for squid in Chinese waters near Kinmen County.
China said the vessel violated a summer ban on fishing.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Speaking to reporters at the legislature, Tsai said it was unusual for Chinese officials to board and then detain a Taiwanese fishing vessel, adding that China’s explanation was that it had been illegally fishing.
However, Beijing might have done this to demonstrate its jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait and put pressure on Taipei, he added.
“We must continue to analyze whether this is a cognitive warfare operation, and will fully assess what the motivations are for the Chinese communists,” Tsai said.
China has seized Taiwanese fishing boats before for illegal fishing, but it released them after fining them, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said.
Late on Wednesday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said the seizure of the boat was an act of “normal law enforcement” to protect fishery resources and the environment.
“The relevant departments will deal with it in accordance with the law and regulations,” it said in a statement.
Three of the five fishers on board are Indonesian nationals, the CGA said.
Separately yesterday, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) told reporters that the government would work as hard as possible to get the boat and its fishers released, and communicate with China via the semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation.
Chiu also urged Beijing to demonstrate goodwill and stop pressuring Taiwan.
China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits in a letter to the foundation said that the boat was seized because it contravened Beijing’s regulations for the no-fishing season and that the holes of the nets they used to catch fish were too small, Chiu said.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday told reporters that Washington was closely monitoring the incident.
Meanwhile, Tsai told lawmakers that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) infiltration of Taiwan can be categorized into four functions: intelligence-gathering, developing cells and organizations, tech-theft and headhunting, and election interference.
The CCP’s infiltration is becoming ever more insidious and is a severe challenge for national security agencies, Tsai said.
Taiwan’s democracy and freedom are being exploited, as the CCP is increasing its level of infiltration, Tsai said.
Officials have been working on 84 national security-related incidents since last year, of which 39 — a far greater number compared with previous years — have resulted in indictments, he said.
Tsai said that the CCP often builds up social networks and funds projects, promises commercial benefits or makes “special offers” to entice Taiwanese to visit China, where they begin working on them with “united front” rhetoric.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan and Chen Yu-fu
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