Indonesians, Taiwanese Released After Weeks in Chinese Detention
China has released four crew members of a Taiwanese fishing boat. They had spent six weeks in Chinese detention—where their captain remains. Their detention is the latest in a series of recent incidents in the waters between Taiwan and China that are raising tensions between the two countries.
Transcript
00:00After six weeks being held in China, one Taiwanese and three Indonesian fishers are on their
00:07way back to Taiwan.
00:09They were taken in a small boat from a port in China to the median line of the Taiwan
00:14Strait.
00:15That's the unofficial boundary between Taiwan and China and where the handover happened.
00:21They were detained by China's Coast Guard at the beginning of July near Taiwan's outlying
00:26islands of Jimen.
00:27The Chinese Coast Guard said they were in Chinese waters and they were breaking a seasonal
00:33ban on fishing in the area and using illegal fishing nets.
00:38Taiwan recognised that the boat crossed into Chinese waters.
00:43But it said it was unusual for fishing boats to be treated in this way and it suggested
00:47that the response from the Chinese side was heavy handed.
00:52This is just one of a series of incidents that have escalated tensions in the waters
00:56between China and Taiwan.
00:59In February, two Chinese fishers drowned in Taiwanese waters after being chased by
01:04the Taiwanese Coast Guard.
01:07Two weeks ago, their bodies and boat were returned to China.
01:12Soon after that, China released a Taiwanese fisher it had held for more than four months.
01:18So on the one hand, it appears that tensions are easing.
01:22On the other hand, both sides have been ramping up maritime security in the wake of these
01:27incidents and Taiwan accuses China of normalising Coast Guard patrols around Jimen.
01:35And in this incident, although the four fishers are on their way back to Taiwan, the captain
01:41and their boat remain in Chinese custody, an ongoing headache for Taiwanese officials.
01:49Joseph Wu and Louise Watt for Taiwan Plus.
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