China confirms detaining Taiwanese vessel over 'illegal fishing'

By Serdar Dincel

ISTANBUL (AA) - China on Wednesday confirmed it detained a Taiwanese fishing vessel for suspected "illegal fishing activities," the state media reported.

In a statement, China Coast Guard spokesman Liu Dejun said the eastern Fujian Coast Guard "lawfully boarded and inspected" the vessel in waters near the coastal city of Quanzhou on Tuesday, leading to its seizure.

The statement added that the vessel was found to be in "violation" of summer fishing moratorium regulations and conducting illegal trawling operations in a prohibited bottom trawl fishing zone.

Taiwan earlier said the Chinese coast guard boarded, inspected and detained a Taiwanese fishing vessel while it was operating near Taiwan’s Kinmen islands off China's southeastern coast.

Similar incidents have occurred in the past, with China's Coast Guard increasingly asserting its presence in waters near Taiwan's outlying islands.

China considers Taiwan a "breakaway province" and does not recognize the median line, an unofficial border that runs down the middle of the Taiwan Strait, which separates China and Taiwan, or its air defense identification zone, a region of airspace in which a country tries to identify, locate and control aircraft in the interest of national security, while Taipei has insisted on its independence since 1949.