The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday.
They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said.
Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said.
Photo: RITCHIE B. TONGO, EPA-EFE
The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s 8th Patrolling Fleet on Jan. 12, CGA public data showed. Six sailors were onboard and detained.
Chinese fishers reportedly often enter Taiwanese interdicted or restricted waters piloting non-registered ships.
The ships’ names are often painted over or absent entirely, and they usually refuse to stop for coast guard inspections, a source said.
Meanwhile, the CGA’s Penghu branch yesterday received a distress call from the Penghu-registered Sheng Yuan Fu No. 8 (聖元福8號) and dispatched three ships to protect it.
The vessel said it was fishing in international waters and was driven away by the China Coast Guard.
The China Coast Guard ships were reportedly sighted southwest of Cimei (七美) and Mudouyu (目斗嶼), in an unusual move crossing the 12 nautical mile (22km) law enforcement line and entering the high seas to enforce Chinese law.
The action comes after the China Coast Guard on Tuesday boarded and seized the Taiwanese fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88號).
At the time it was operating in a “common fishing ground” between Taiwan and China, despite it being located within Chinese territorial waters, the Fisheries Agency said.
Taiwanese fishing vessels were not previously prohibited from working there due to a “tacit agreement” between the two sides, the agency said.
Tuesday’s incident marked the fourth of its kind in 21 years, the CGA said.
On July 11, 2003, five Penghu-registered fishing vessels were seized by China Fishery Law Enforcement vessels 103 nautical miles southwest of Penghu’s Cimei Township.
The ships were released after paying a fine, and returned to Penghu on July 13 that year.
On July 24, 2005, six Penghu-registered fishing vessels were seized by China Fishery Law Enforcement vessels 89 nautical miles southwest of Cimei.
The ships were released after paying a fine, and returned to Penghu on July 26 that year.
On July 28, 2007, six Penghu-registered fishing vessels were seized by China Fishery Law Enforcement vessels 44 nautical miles west of Penghu County’s Hua Islet (花嶼).
In all four instances, Taiwanese fishing vessels were seized for contravening China’s closed season for fishing.
In the 2007 incident, the Taiwanese ships were escorted back into Taiwan-controlled waters by CGA vessels following on-site negotiations between the CGA and its Chinese counterpart.
China Fisheries Law Enforcement Command and China Marine Surveillance were China’s maritime law enforcement units, but have since been merged into a unified China Coast Guard in a 2013 reorganization.
Tuesday’s incident was the second this year involving a Taiwan-registered vessel being boarded by the Chinese coast guard.
On Feb. 19, the Sunrise cruise ship was boarded by China Coast Guard personnel in Taiwan-controlled restricted waters off Kinmen.
It was largely seen as retaliation for the fatal capsizing of an unnamed and unregistered speedboat in “restricted waters” off Kinmen, which resulted in the death of two Chinese fishers.
The CGA has seized 467 Chinese fishing vessels illegally operating in Taiwan-controlled fishing sites from 2016 to April, CGA data showed.
Additional reporting by Liu Yu-ching
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS