Fatal coastguard chase: Taiwan blames Beijing’s lack of enforcement on illegal fishing boats
- During meeting with lawmakers, island authorities defend coastguard actions in incident that led to the deaths of two mainland fishermen last month
- Beijing must step up controls to avoid repeat of confrontation near Quemoy, coastguard authority says
All four men fell overboard and two of them survived, with the mainland and the island blaming each other for the fatalities.
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Two mainland Chinese fishermen drown after Taiwan coastguard pursuit
In a legislative meeting in Taipei on Monday, lawmakers keen to resolve the dispute demanded explanations about whether the island’s coastguard vessel hit the fishing boat and caused it to capsize.
Delivering a report to the legislature, the island’s Coast Guard Administration said the crew of the patrol vessel were carrying out their duties when they ordered the “three-no” – unnamed, uncertified and unregistered – vessel to stop for inspection.
Administration director general Chou Mei-wu told the lawmakers that inspections or ejections of unlicensed vessels operating in Taiwanese waters were part of the coastguard’s duties, which were included in a maritime cooperation programme between the two sides.
The incident should not be viewed as an unreasonable action by the Taiwanese coastguard to deliberately hit the speedboat, Chou said, as “impact would be inevitable” if a boat refused to stop for inspection and sped away during the pursuit.
Aside from some damage on the port side of the speedboat, not even a dent was found anywhere else on the vessel, Chou said.