Taiwan’s coastguard has requested special funding to boost coastal surveillance after a series of alarming undetected landings on sensitive shores by people in inflatable boats from mainland China.
The call for better surveillance came after two mainland Chinese residents – a 41-year-old man and his 17-year-old son, surnamed Song – sailed to Taiwan illegally on Thursday by crossing the Taiwan Strait in a 3.3-metre (11-foot) inflatable boat. They landed on Guanyin Beach in Taoyuan, a zone regularly used by the military for live-fire exercises.
The pair turned themselves in the next morning, claiming they were fleeing persecution and seeking freedom in Taiwan.
Also on Tuesday, just before Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te marked his first year in office, the island’s coastguard arrested two mainland Chinese nationals attempting to sneak onto a tiny islet in the Taiwan-controlled Quemoy archipelago using a small sampan. Quemoy is also known as Kinmen.
On Monday in Taipei, Hsieh Ching-chin, deputy head of Taiwan’s coastguard administration, said the pair had left Pingtan in Fujian province, about 70 nautical miles away, using a main tank of fuel and two 20-litre (5.30-gallon) backup containers – a “reasonable” estimate for the crossing.
