An island off the coast of Kinmen, an archipelago controlled by Taiwan but only a few kilometers from China. Photo: Helen Davidson/The Guardian
As he cruises the calm waters of the South China Sea, Taiwanese captain Lu Wen-shiung recalls the old days, when Chinese and Taiwanese fishermen would meet behind rocky headlands and anchor their boats out of sight of authorities to to share a meal. There was less supervision then and the two sides were friendlier, fishing the same waters and occasionally selling to each other on the sly.
"We were like brothers, we had a good relationship, they even cooked for us," he says. 'But... now that control has become stricter, the... [Chinese] The Coast Guard will call me if the boats are too close."
Lu, now a tour boat captain, says if he even comes close to the forbidden waterline - a de facto maritime border with China - he will quickly receive a radio warning from the coast guard.
Lu and his boat navigate the busy waters around Kinmen County, an archipelago controlled by Taiwan but just miles from China.
The Chinese Communist Party government claims Taiwan (including Kinmen) as a Chinese province and has become increasingly hostile in its push for annexation, as the opposition from Taiwan's government and people continues to grow.
Despite existing political tensions, Kinmen-Xiamen is an area where official cooperation has effectively continued, with joint efforts to tackle illegal fishing and smuggling, and search and rescue missions. But a fatal maritime incident last month has threatened the border and raised serious questions about the strength of the border.
A new normal
Lu's boat passes within casting distance of Kinmen's outer islands, some of which are open to tourists while others have limited access to the military. Not far away lies the gleaming skyline of the Chinese city of Xiamen, and the surrounding seas bustle with fishing boats, civilian ferries and foreign cargo ships. Among them are likely some Chinese vessels known to both sides as "three noes" - no name, no registration, no flag - which often engage in illegal fishing and smuggling. A few hundred meters away, on the other side of a narrow international shipping lane, a Chinese coast guard ship patrols.
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In February, these patrols were expanded following the fatal capsizing of a three-noes boat in Kinmen waters. The boat had fled from a Taiwan Coast Guard ship that had ordered it to stop for inspection. Two of the four Chinese passengers died, for which China blamed Taiwan. Anger grew when it became clear that the two boats had collided - a fact that Taiwanese authorities had initially left out. Fifteen rounds of closed-door negotiations over responsibility and compensation have so far failed. China accuses Taiwan of evasion and Taiwan accuses China of "absurd" demands, such as wanting the Taiwanese officers to go to the mainland for questioning.
Chinese officials have publicly rejected the existence of the banned waterline. Such a statement is consistent with Beijing's claim over Taiwan, but this line has been tacitly respected since its demarcation in the 1990s. In the days after the collision, the Chinese coast guard launched additional patrols, with one stopping and boarding a Taiwanese tour boat for inspection and to scare passengers, and several others crossing Kinmen waters.
Experts say both sides are clearly trying to prevent a serious escalation of the incident, but China's response also fits a pattern of using an incident to set new norms and encroach on Taiwan's borders.
The clearest example of this tactic came in August 2020, when US Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. In response, Chinese military incursions into Taiwan's air defense identification zone have increased and crossings of the median line - the de facto border of the Taiwan Strait - have become a regular occurrence.
Around Kinmen, "Beijing was careful not to appear overly provocative even as the incident was used to undermine Taiwanese authority," said Amanda Hsiao, a Taiwan-based senior China analyst at the International Crisis Group.
"The use of law enforcement patrols as a means of expressing dissatisfaction will likely continue, but Beijing may also choose to increase or decrease the frequency and intensity of those patrols in response to events."
Last week, the director general of Taiwan's National Security Bureau, Tsai Ming-ye, told parliament that China conducts "joint combat readiness patrols" on average every seven to 10 days in an effort to normalize activity.
The end of the 'silent agreement'
On Kinmen, residents are relaxed and dismiss the recent outcry as bad faith parties 'internationalizing' a tragic accident. The attitude towards cross-strait relations and national identity is different from that on the main island of Taiwan. "These two areas are always close due to geographic economy and culture," said independent city councilor Tung Sen-po.
More than 140,000 people live in Kinmen. It is a quiet, semi-rural community, with visible signs of thousands of years of culture and hundreds of years as a military base or frontline for multiple conflicts. The economy once depended on the thousands of soldiers stationed there during and after the Chinese Civil War, but has since focused on tourism and the production of a local drink, Kaoliang. In 2020, it was Taiwan's fifth richest province in terms of average income.
Interactive
The main concerns among Kinmen people are about the tourism economy and continued restrictions on bilateral travel and trade privileges between their island and Xiamen, which were suspended during the pandemic and only partially restored.
Still, there is some concern that tensions following the capsizing will deter tourists. A taxi driver and hotelier both thought that there have been fewer domestic visitors since the capsizing. A couple from Taiwan's main island named Qiu and Li say they were worried while planning their visit but felt reassured when they arrived.
Some residents are concerned about maritime enforcement. At a fish market in Jincheng Municipality, vendors say some fishermen and tour boats are nervous about heading to the coast as Chinese patrols have been stepped up.
"They are concerned about security, and we are also afraid of conflict," said Zhang, a fish seller.
"We don't think there's any animosity because [fishing crews] sometimes trade at sea, [but] the problem of smuggling is very serious, and sometimes the naval patrols will solve it, but we are few and very many."
In the past, China and Taiwan have cooperated in illegal activities in the strait, but the future is now complicated.
Raymond Kuo, a political scientist at the Rand Corporation, says the impasse increases the risk of misunderstandings and accidents.
"Not only between Chinese and Taiwanese enforcement agencies, but also between those agencies and citizens in the area," he said.
'Whose rules and orders should they follow? What if they get conflicting instructions? This disagreement in enforcement jurisdictions also creates opportunities for illegal activity."
Chinese negotiators left Kinmen weeks ago without agreeing on compensation. Taiwan Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling has apologized for the Taiwan Coast Guard's poor evidence collection and expressed regret and condolences over the deaths. But the Taiwanese investigation is still ongoing and further information will not be released until it is completed, she said.
Last Wednesday, Chen Binhua, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Bureau, accused Taipei of delays and threatened further countermeasures.
Less than 24 hours later, at least two Chinese fishermen were killed in another capsize, this time a registered fishing vessel near Dongding, Kinmen's southernmost island. It was in the forbidden waters, but the cause was not clear. Chinese and Taiwanese authorities conducted the search and rescue efforts, indicating that some cooperation continues, at least for now.
But so do the increased patrols. Last weekend, four Chinese coast guard ships entered Kinmen waters on consecutive days, causing confusion among Taiwanese officials who had just sent help in the capsizing.
Tung says the "silent agreement" on the border is now gone, but hopes the two sides can formalize it during negotiations.
Lu is also hopeful that the two sides can move forward and that Kinmen's unique position between the two can return to friendly times.
"The incident could have been minimized initially, but now it has become an international problem," he said.
