Mainland urges Taiwan to publish truth of fatal boat incident

BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- A spokesperson for the Chinese mainland on Wednesday urged Taiwan to make public the truth of a recent incident in waters near Kinmen that led to the death of two people on a mainland fishing boat.

Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, also called on relevant parties in Taiwan to hand serious punishments to those responsible for the incident, satisfy reasonable demands of the bereaved families, and issue a formal apology to them.

"We are resolute in protecting our compatriots' legitimate rights and interests, and allow no recurrence of such an incident," Zhu said.

Taiwan authorities' brutal treatment of the fishing boat from Fujian Province on Feb. 14 led to all four people on board falling into the sea, and two of them died.

However, relevant authorities in Taiwan denied any wrongdoing, and attempted to conceal the truth. Certain individuals in Taiwan have also made irresponsible remarks concerning the incident, Zhu said.

She noted that it was not until the bereaved families and compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait made a strong push for the truth that relevant authorities in Taiwan admitted that a vessel from Taiwan had rammed into the fishing boat, causing it to capsize and leading to the casualties. Despite this, the Taiwan side continues to attempt to cover up the truth of the incident and shirk its responsibilities.

Zhu said that the incident was not a sporadic case. Since the Democratic Progressive Party came to power in Taiwan in 2016, similar incidents have occurred on multiple occasions, seriously harming the interests of those in the mainland fishing industry and the sentiment of mainland compatriots, she noted.