China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) yesterday said that the Chinese man who drove a motorboat into a strategic river mouth in Taiwan on Sunday was acting on his own and would be punished upon his return to China.
However, the National Security Bureau said it would not exclude any possibilities regarding the man’s motivations, including the Chinese government’s involvement. The man has been identified as a 60-year-old former Chinese navy captain surnamed Ruan (阮).
Coast guard personnel on Sunday arrested Ruan in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) after his boat entered Tamsui River (淡水河).
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The boat was detected off the coast of Taiwan on Sunday, but was not intercepted until it collided with other vessels at a ferry terminal on the river, which leads to the capital and flows into the Taiwan Strait.
Authorities have detained Ruan, and his apparent naval background has raised suspicions that the voyage might have been an attempt by China to test Taiwan’s detection and defense capabilities.
Speaking at a regular news briefing in Beijing yesterday, TAO spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said what Ruan had done was “purely his personal action.”
“There is no need for the Democratic Progressive Party authorities to see soldiers hiding behind every tree and bush, carrying out political manipulation while pretending to act earnestly,” he said.
Ruan would be punished once he returns to China, Chen added, without giving details.
Taiwan has not indicated when or if it would send him back, saying that legal authorities are still investigating the matter.
At the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said that Ruan’s apparent military background made the case rather unusual.
“There are many areas of doubt that still need to be further clarified,” he said.
Taiwan has said in recent years that China has been using “gray zone” warfare, which is designed to exhaust a foe by using irregular tactics without resorting to open combat, such as flying surveillance balloons over the nation.
Tsai said the speedboat incident might be just such a tactic.
Meanwhile, 22 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft and vessels were detected in the airspace and waters around Taiwan in the 24 hours after 6am on Tuesday, the Ministry of National Defense said.
Thirteen PLA aircraft were detected in the vicinity of Taiwan, two of which crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, while seven others, including one drone, crossed an extension of the median line and entered Taiwan’s southeastern and southwestern air defense identification zones, the ministry said.
The drone flew as close as 43 nautical miles (80km) from Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, ministry data showed.
Nine PLA vessels were detected in waters off Taiwan over the same period.
The ministry said that it was closely monitoring the situation and had deployed combat air patrol aircraft, coastal missile systems and navy vessels in response.
Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS