The Chinese Coast Guard detained a Taiwanese fishing boat and its crew off the coast of Kinmen, Taiwanese-controlled islands that are located a few miles off the coast of mainland China.
China has increased patrols around Kinmen, known as Quemoy on the mainland, since February when an incident involving Taiwan’s Coast Guard ended with two Chinese fishermen drowning. Around the same time, it was revealed that US Army Special Forces soldiers had been deployed to Kinmen, a highly provocative step.
In March, Taiwan confirmed the presence of US troops in Kinmen. Some parts of the Kinmen Islands are just 2.5 miles from the mainland city of Xiamen.
Since China has stepped up patrols around Kinmen, there have been several tense stand-offs between the Chinese and Taiwanese coast guards. According to The South China Morning Post, Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration said the Taiwanese fishing boat Da Jin Man 88 was stopped by two Chinese Coast Guard vessels late Tuesday while operating 23.7 nautical miles from Kinmen.
The Chinese vessels made the fishing boat navigate toward the mainland city of Jinjiang in Fujian province. Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration said it tried to block the vessels but gave up after a 50-minute stand-off to avoid escalation.
Taiwan acknowledged the fishing vessel was operating in mainland-controlled waters. “[The Da Jin Man] was located 2.8 nautical miles off the Chinese territorial sea baseline but within Chinese territorial waters,” said Hsieh Ching-chin, deputy director-general of the Taiwan Coast Guard Administration.
For their part, Chinese authorities said the boat violated a moratorium on trawl fishing. “The act was deemed detrimental to fishery resources and marine ecology,” said Chinese Coast Guard spokesman Liu Dejun.
That Island looks like a perfect place for already dug in Pentagonian troops to launch a totally unprovoked surprise attack on China.
Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not. We can guarantee that it's ringed by so many hydrophones that the mainland military could count how many fish there are swimming by. Nothing would get on or off a facility like that without getting hit with enough radar to deliver a chest X-ray level of radiation. The grunts could probably get into a Zodiac and make it to shore if they hurried, but that city in the background has a population of over 5 million so they're not going very far inland before being overwhelmed.
The only thing that facility is good for is provocation (something which the US excels at.)
yep… sarcastic
It’s really sad when our discourse has devolved to the point where without a /s tag it’s often impossible to tell.
I am not sure sarcasm is the correct word; mockery, ridicule, scorn fir US totalitarianism impotent before the more advabcedd cultures the US attacks nay be closer,