Bodies of Chinese Nationals Repatriated After Kinmen Boat Collision

TaiwanPlus News

After months of negotiations and disagreements, the bodies of two Chinese citizens killed in a boat collision with Taiwan’s coast guard are on their way back to China. Louise Watt reports from Kinmen.

Transcript

00:00A Taoist ceremony for two dead Chinese sailors in a Taiwanese port, before their bodies and

00:08their boat are returned to China.

00:11It marks a rare moment of agreement between China and Taiwan.

00:16Chinese officials travelled here to Taiwan's outlying Jinmen Islands to negotiate the repatriation

00:22of the remains of their nationals, killed in a chase with Taiwan's coast guard.

00:29Neither side gave details of their agreement, but reports suggest Taiwan paid thousands

00:34of US dollars in compensation to the families, but without accepting blame for the incident.

00:41And from the Chinese official who travelled from a city across the water to Taiwanese land.

01:12It's a step back from where they were some five months ago, when Taiwan's coast guard

01:18said the sailors' unregistered speedboat was in restricted waters, and that the Chinese

01:23fled from them and drowned.

01:26China called the incident malicious.

01:29Since the incident, there's been an influx of Chinese vessels, including coast guard

01:33vessels, in the waters around Jinmen.

01:36China, which can be seen just across the water from here, says it's simply protecting its

01:41sailors, but Taiwanese officials see it as part of a Chinese pressure campaign to get

01:47them to accept Chinese claims of sovereignty over Taiwan.

01:52The return of the bodies, while calming tensions for now, is not likely to change the continuing

01:58patrols by China in these waters, which China has sought to normalise.

02:05While this argument over the Chinese nationals and their boat has been resolved, Taiwan is

02:10left grappling with more Chinese vessels around their islands.

02:16A sign of their own restricted space, and the pressure China can bring to bear.

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