China has said that its coast guard patrol around a group of Taiwanese islands near the Chinese coast was an example of “transparent law enforcement”.
Earlier this month, Beijing began patrolling around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands, when two of its fishermen died trying to flee Taiwan’s coast guard after it entered prohibited waters. The Taiwanese officials had said that the fishermen tried to flee, resulting in the boat capsizing.
Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said that the Chinese government did not recognise any off-limits waters around Kinmen for its fishermen.
“I don’t think there is any issue of panic. The coast guard carries out its official duties in their own waters in accordance with the law to maintain normal order,” Zhu said.
“The relevant parties in Taiwan should respect the fact that both sides of the Taiwan Strait have been operating in traditional waters for a long time, and stop seizing and detaining mainland fishing boats in a rough and dangerous manner,” she added.
Over the past few years, people in Kinmen have reported a major rise in illegal Chinese dredging vessels.
The incident comes at a time when tensions between China and Taiwan are at an all time high. China’s ruling party says that Taiwan is a part of the mainland,while the Taiwanese government says that the country is independent and people reject the idea of Chinese rule.
China does not recognise sovereignty claims by Taiwan.
Xi Jinping has called for the “reunification” of Taiwan with China, which split nearly 75 years ago. Beijing has from time to time signalled its discontent with a show of military force, as it did after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei in 2022.
China has been stepping up economic and diplomatic pressure, by luring away small states that recognise Taiwan, and sanctioning more Taiwanese companies, products and people.
Meanwhile, Philippine’s president Ferdinand Marcos Junior has said that the Chinese navy’s presence in the South China Sea is “worrisome.”
