Date | February 14, 2024 |
---|---|
Location | 0.5 nmi east of Beiding Island, Kinmen, Fuchien Province, R.O.C. |
Cause | Boat chase of a motorboat from Quanzhou, PRC fleeing a pullover by the Taiwanese Coast Guards while trespassing in the restricted waters of Kinmen[note 1]. |
Participants | Republic of China |
Deaths | 2 |
The 2024 Kinmen Chinese motorboat capsizing incident,[a] also called the 2/14 Kinmen Incident, took place on 14 February 2024, when a boat of the 9th Brigade of the Coast Guard Administration of Taiwan (CGA) collided with a Chinese motorboat[3] which was trespassing and illegally fishing in the waters of Kinmen, Fuchien Province, Taiwan (ROC). All four crew members of the Chinese motorboat were thrown into the water, two of whom later died.
The 9th Brigade boat attempted to pull over the unnamed and unregistered motorboat. The motorboat did not pull over, resulting in a chase, which ultimately led to the incident.[citation needed]
The Taiwan Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first stated that the Fujian motorboat capsized due to refusing inspection and "zigzagging", without mentioning a collision.[4]
However, CGA later changed its statement on 20 Feb, stating that there were multiple "contacts" between the two vessels during the high-speed interception. Mainland Chinese crew members who returned to Fujian also confirmed that the coast guard's speedboat directly collided with the fishing boat.[5]
The two surviving crew members were detained in Kinmen.[2][6] The incident led to increased tensions between China and Taiwan, as China disputed the CGA's justification for the chase and the concept of restricted waters.[2][7][8] The China Coast Guard increased patrols in the area following the incident.[2] On 19 February, China Coast Guard officials boarded a Taiwanese cruise ship near Kinmen for half an hour, which drew criticism from Taiwanese authorities.[9][7]
At the end of February 2024, a conspiracy theory was discussed on Twitter that one of the survivors of the capsizing incident was not an ordinary fisherman, but a first-class sergeant in the Navy Submarine Force of the South Sea Fleet of the PLA named Chen Zujun (陳祖軍).[10]