Taiwan: Two Chinese fishermen die after sea chase with coastguard

BBC News:

Two Chinese fishermen have drowned while being chased by the Taiwanese coastguard off Taiwan’s northernmost Kinmen archipelago.

Taipei said the fishing boat trespassed into Taiwanese waters on Wednesday.

The four fishermen on board resisted an inspection and the boat capsized when authorities gave chase.

Beijing “strongly condemned” the incident, saying it “seriously hurt the feelings of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait”.

Kinmen lies just 3km (1.86 miles) away from China’s south-eastern coast, placing it on the frontline of tensions between China and Taiwan.

China sees self-ruled Taiwan as a breakaway province that will, eventually, be part of the country, and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve this.

In recent years, Kinmen residents have reported sighting an increased presence of Chinese dredging vessels in its vicinity. The group of islands has a population of about 180,000 and is located 187km from Taiwan’s main island.