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Taiwan
ChinaMilitary

Taiwan’s coastguard asks for more surveillance funds after mainland boats breach defences

Agency aims to improve maritime security after surge in mainland Chinese landings at sensitive sites

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A crew member on board a Taiwanese coastguard ship monitors a mainland Chinese coastguard vessel in waters east of Taiwan last December. Photo: AFP
Lawrence Chungin Taipei
Taiwan’s coastguard has requested special funding to boost coastal surveillance, after a series of alarming undetected landings on sensitive shores by people arriving in small inflatable boats from mainland China.
The call for better surveillance came after two mainland Chinese residents – a 41-year-old man and his 17-year-old son – sailed to Taiwan illegally on Thursday after crossing the Taiwan Strait in a 3.3-metre (11-foot) inflatable boat. They landed on Guanyin Beach in Taoyuan, a zone regularly used by the Taiwanese military for live-fire exercises.

The pair turned themselves in the next morning, claiming they were fleeing persecution and seeking freedom in Taiwan.

Also on Tuesday, just before Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te marked his first year in office, the island’s coastguard arrested two mainland Chinese nationals who were attempting to covertly land on a tiny islet in the Taiwan-controlled Quemoy archipelago using a small sampan. Quemoy is also known as Kinmen.

A father and son from mainland China crossed the Taiwan Strait using an inflatable boat. Photo: Handout
A father and son from mainland China crossed the Taiwan Strait using an inflatable boat. Photo: Handout

Hsieh Ching-chin, deputy head of Taiwan’s coastguard administration, said that the pair set off from Pingtan in coastal Fujian province, about 70 nautical miles (130km) from Taiwan. They used a main fuel tank and two 20-litre (5.30-gallon) backup containers – a “reasonable” estimate for the crossing, Hsieh said in Taipei on Monday.

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