Taipei [Taiwan], August 2 (ANI): Taiwan has said that it was “unnecessary” on the part of China to label as “malicious” the incident from earlier this year involving a Chinese fishing speedboat.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council on Thursday said that Taiwan and China had arrived at a consensus on compensation to the families of two Chinese fishermen who died after the fishing boat they were on trespassed into Taiwanese waters off Kinmen islands in February this year and resisted inspection.
The Kinmen Islands is an archipelago that lies a few kilometres from China and is under Taiwanese control.
The agreement arrived at between the Taiwan and China followed months of negotiations between the two countries also included the the return of the bodies and the vessel to the families of the fishermen.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh said that there were negotiations on Tuesday between Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and the families of the two deceased Chinese sailors, Focus Taiwan reported.
The incident in question took place on February 14 when a small Chinese boat – which had no certificate, name or port registration number – entered into Kinmen waters and two of its four crew members died after a chase by the Taiwanese Coast Guard, Focus Taiwan reported.
This led to China announcing patrols around Kinmen and Xiamen in the area to “protect the lives and property of fishermen,”. It accused Taiwanese authorities of treating these Chinese sailors in a “brutal and dangerous” manner, although Taipei insisted at all times that its coast guard acted “in accordance with the law.”
Liang Wen-chieh on Thursday said that both parties displayed goodwill and that the issue has been resolved. “As for the many labelings (of the incident) by outsiders, I believe they are unnecessary,” Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said.
He said that both parties can “come closer together and avoid returning to such a tense situation.”
Liang Wen-chieh was asked about a statement by Chinese State Council Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesperson Chen Binhua, where he labelled the February 14 incident as a “malicious collision”.
A TAO statement said that Taiwan Coast Guard personnel employed a “brutal and dangerous” method to treat mainland fishermen that resulted in casualties.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council had justified the Taiwan Coast Guard’s chase of the Chinese speedboat that trespassed within 1.1 nautical miles of the eastern coast of the Island of Kinmen on February 14, which resulted in the capsizing of the boat.
All four men on the fishing boat fell overboard and were picked up by the Coast Guard. Two of them were taken to the hospital but were pronounced dead after efforts to resuscitate them failed.
On February 15, the MAC responded by calling the incident “regrettable,” but said an investigation indicated that Taiwanese officers had acted “lawfully.” It also urged China to take effective actions to restrict illegal activities by its nationals in Taiwan’s waters. (ANI)
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