Control Yuan reprimands coast guard over fatal speedboat accident in Kinmen

Taipei, Nov. 11 (CNA) The Control Yuan has ordered the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) to take corrective action for its failure to record a fatal chase between a Chinese speedboat and a CGA ship in Kinmen earlier this year and immediately to report.

In a news release issued Monday, the state regulator noted that the Coast Guard’s failure to record the chase hampered investigators and fueled controversy over who bore legal responsibility for the incident.

The Control Yuan Internal and Ethnic Affairs Committee approved the corrective measures on November 7.

background

The Kinmen speedboat incident occurred on February 14 when Taiwan’s coast guard pursued a Chinese ship that entered prohibited waters off the coast of Kinmen.

According to the Coast Guard, the unnamed and unregistered Chinese boat with four people on board refused requests to board and inspect it and later fled, starting a high-speed chase that ended when the vessel suddenly turned .

The speedboat collided with the CGA patrol vessel and capsized in the waters near Kinmen while being pursued, resulting in the deaths of two Chinese crew members.

The other two Chinese nationals who survived the collision returned to China on February 20, while the bodies of the deceased crew and speedboat remained in Kinmen for further examination.

The incident raised tensions around Kinmen, which is less than 10 kilometers off the coast of the Chinese city of Xiamen.

failures

In its statement Monday, the Control Yuan said the coastal multi-purpose boat involved in the chase was on patrol alone and not in a flotilla led by a larger vessel, as required by Coast Guard regulations.

After the encounter with the Chinese speedboat, the Coast Guard also violated several of its operational policies by failing to record and promptly report the interaction, the statement said.

An investigation into the outage revealed that the Coast Guard boat involved in the chase was originally equipped with four video cameras.

However, in 2022, the cameras were removed as part of a Cabinet campaign to phase out the use of Chinese-made products, and replacements were never provided, the Control Yuan said.

Although the ship had a portable video camera on board, the crew could not operate it during a high-speed chase, the statement said.

The Control Yuan said the patrol boat’s crew also failed to promptly report the chase via their wireless communications device.

Although this was a failure, it said, the Coast Guard’s procedures for reporting such incidents were “scattered” across multiple sets of guidelines and needed to be reviewed.

The Control Yuan noted that Kinmen prosecutors completed their investigation into the incident on August 15 and declined to press charges.

Because of the Coast Guard’s deployment on the front lines of a “gray zone conflict,” it should still be strict about following internal guidelines and ensuring the equipment and discipline of its personnel to both reduce the risk of controversy and protect the nation’s security, the said Control Yuan.