Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: rheins/WikiCommons/CC BY 3.0
TAIWAN AND CHINA have reportedly come to terms in the aftermath of an incident in February that left two Chinese fishermen dead.
Specifically, in February, a Chinese boat with four fishermen on it was found to have intruded into Kinmen territorial waters. The boat refused a search from the Taiwanese Coast Guard and instead attempted to flee in a zig-zagging motion.
The vessel capsized, however, after colliding with the Coast Guard vessel. When the men were recovered from the water, two were without vital signs.
The Chinese government denounced the incident, framing it as an incident that only occurred because of the Taiwanese Coast Guard’s bullying of Chinese fishing vessels. This was claimed to be a common occurrence under the Tsai administration. As part of the negotiations involved repatriating the bodies of the deceased fishermen and compensating the families, this also led to contention between both sides, with China claiming that Taiwan was politicizing the issue.
Subsequently, the Chinese government used the incident to escalate grey-zone activity afterward, announcing that it would be stopping and searching Taiwanese tourist vessels, and later carrying out such actions. As such, a Taiwanese tourist ferry was later searched by the Chinese Coast Guard.
In May, two Taiwanese fishermen were rescued by the Chinese Coast Guard after going adrift and ending up in Chinese waters after the engine of their vessel broke. Yet one fisherman has not been allowed to return because he is an active duty member of the Taiwanese military.
KMT Kinmen legislator Chen Yu-jen involved herself in efforts to bring back the fishermenChen later stated that the soldier was in the process of being discharged, so as to make the process of repatriating him easier.
Chen Yu-jen (center-right). Photo credit: Chen Yu-jen/Facebook
Though this took place, the soldier has yet to be returned. According to Chen, the soldier is now expected to be returned in August, with the end of negotiations between Taiwan and China. It is probable, then, that China held onto the soldier to provide leverage in negotiations with Taiwan.
As for Chen’s involvement, the KMT has traditionally sought to frame itself as the only political party in Taiwan able to carry out communications with the CCP and, in this way, maintain stable cross-strait relations. It is not unusual for KMT legislators or their associates to, in this way, involve themselves in cases of Taiwanese held by China, to claim that they will be able to secure the release of such individuals in a way that the DPP is unable to.
For example, when Taiwanese human rights NGO worker Lee Ming-che was arrested by Chinese authorities in March 2017 after entering China, then-KMT legislator Alex Tsai claimed to have reached out to Chinese friends on his behalf. Lee was later jailed by China for five years on charges of seeking to subvert state power–this was thought to be due to Lee sharing the experience of Taiwan’s democratization with Chinese friends on WeChat. In particular, Tsai claimed to have interceded with Chinese friends after Lee’s wife, Lee Ching-yu, was approached by a former assistant of Tsai’s who claimed that Lee Ming-che would be released faster if Lee Ching-yu did not actively seek to campaign for her husband’s release.
Indeed, Chen claimed that negotiating for Hu’s release was the purpose of her trip to China in late April as part of a delegation led by KMT caucus convener Fu Kun-chi.
Still, such events take place in the backdrop of increased Chinese military activity around Kinmen, and escalations in maritime and air incursions directed at Taiwan. It is still to be seen how such events figure into continued Chinese escalation directed at Taiwan.
Even if Taiwan and China took months to come to a consensus, this did not prevent some joint efforts in past months, including attempts to rescue a Chinese fisherman who fell overboard. Yet in light of cross-strait tensions, it is to be expected that there will be future incidents between Taiwan and China regarding Kinmen and other outlying islands.