CHINA-TAIWAN WEEKLY UPDATE, AUGUST 16, 2024

The PRC released four members of a Taiwanese fishing boat on August 13, whom it detained near Kinmen on July 2.The crew’s release does not indicate a change in the PRC’s long-term coercion campaign against Taiwan, however. The PRC continues to hold the Taiwanese captain of the crew and the boat, with no confirmed date for their release. The Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) detained the crew and boat for fishing in PRC waters during a seasonal fishing moratorium. The crew’s release comes after the PRC and ROC made progress in resolving the handling of the February 14 capsizing incident, in which two PRC fishermen died while fleeing from a Taiwanese Coast Guard pursuit near Kinmen. 

Kinmen is a group of Taiwan-controlled islands with a large military garrison roughly 3 kilometers from the coast of the PRC. The July 30 deal concludes lengthy backchannel negotiations that stalled in early March, resulting in the ROC returning the bodies of the deceased and paying restitution to their families. The PRC released a Taiwanese former soldier that it held for nearly five months on August 7 after the deal.

Since the February 14 capsizing incident, the CCG has conducted frequent violations of Taiwan’s maritime jurisdiction in the waters around Kinmen, which peaked in May around President Lai’s inauguration. Several commercial PRC drones have also flown over Kinmen in recent months. This phenomenon has previously occurred during periods of high cross-strait tensions, which suggests that it is a PRC-directed gray zone warfare activity.

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