Four crew members of a fishing boat detained by China were returned to Taiwan this morning after 42 days in Chinese custody.
The crew members — a Taiwanese man surnamed Ting (丁) and three Indonesians — were brought to the median line of the Taiwan Strait, where they were picked up by the Da Jin Man No. 96 fishing boat.
The captain of the detained Da Jin Man No. 88 and the boat itself are still being held in China pending the completion of judicial proceedings.
Photo: Liu Yu-ching, Taipei Times
As China is prosecuting the case as a matter of illegal fishing during the seasonal moratorium, it involves more than only a fine and has resulted in over a month of cross-strait negotiations.
The four crew members were returned at 10:30am today, and are to return to Penghu on Thursday.
The captain is reportedly safe, although his movement is restricted to the hotel at which he is staying.
Former legislator Lin Pin-kuan (林炳坤) and others visited him at the hotel for 20 minutes this morning before going to the wharf where the four fishers departed to make sure they boarded safely.
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