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Beijing, Feb 28 (EFE).- China asked Taiwan on Wednesday to explain an incident earlier this month in which a Chinese speedboat entered the waters of the Kinmen Islands and two of its four crew members died following a coast guard chase.
China criticized Taiwanese authorities for treating its fishermen in a “rough and dangerous” manner, although Taipei said its coast guard proceeded “in accordance with the law.”
“The measures taken by Taiwanese authorities seriously hurt the feelings of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Since the incident occurred, authorities of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party have not apologized,” Zhu Fenglian, the Chinese government’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman, said in a press conference.
Zhu said the Taiwanese government has “lied” and “hidden the truth without showing humanity.”
“We demand that the (party’s) authorities tell the truth about what happened and give an explanation to the families of the victims. The mainland reserves the right to take all necessary measures,” she added.
After the incident, Taiwan said five Chinese surveillance ships on Monday had entered prohibited or restricted waters of the Kinmen Islands, located a few kilometers from the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen, home to more than 100,000 Taiwanese.
The “forbidden zone” around the Kinmen extends halfway up the Chinese coast to the north and northeast, about four kilometers to the east and another eight kilometers to the south of the archipelago, but China does not officially recognize the existence of these boundaries.
On the sidelines, Zhu on Wednesday justified China’s decision to modify a civil air route that runs parallel to the median line of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial border that had been tacitly respected by Taipei and Beijing in recent decades.
After the adjustment, aircraft traveling on the M503 will be closer to the median line of the strait during their route, at a distance of less than 10 kilometers at the closest points.
“The optimized route has been operating normally for almost a month. The adjustment has brought the average number of daily flights to 65. It has been useful in rectifying cross-Strait aviation operations and is facilitating exchanges. It is a mutually beneficial measure,” he said. EFE
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