By Micheal Chukwuebuka, Reporting
ACCORDING to Taiwan’s coast guard on Wednesday, two Chinese fishermen, accused of trespassing, drowned while they were being chased off Taiwan’s Kinmen archipelago.
The deaths are unusual despite the level of Chinese activity in the water near Kinmen, which is closer to China than it is to Taiwan’s main island.
Stonix News reports that China claims all of Taiwan as part of its territory.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office strongly condemned the deaths and called for an investigation:
“Such a malicious event during the Spring Festival seriously hurts the feelings of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.”
Both China and Taiwan are celebrating the Lunar New Year holiday.
According to reports, the statement made by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office accused the governing Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan of using all sorts of excuses to forcefully inspect Chinese fishing vessels, and using violent and dangerous methods towards Chinese fishermen.
Taiwan’s coast guard, in a statement, said the yet-to-be-named Chinese vessel had been sailing about one nautical mile off the coast of an islet of Kinmen island.
The Chinese vessel attempted to flee but capsized.
The vice captain of the coast guard in Kinmen, Chen Jien-wen, told a local TV channel that four fishermen fell into the water and two survived and are in good shape, while resuscitation efforts on the other two failed.
The coast guard said the case was reported to the Kinmen prosecutor’s office, and the fishermen’s families have been contacted via official channels.
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