TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said on Saturday (Aug. 17) that a Chinese fishing boat was involved in a collision, and three of the crew members were missing at sea. 

The incident involved the Chinese-flagged Min Long Yu 60877 and occurred in the early morning on Saturday, about 12 kilometers off the coast of Kinmen, reported AFP. The Taiwan Coast Guard ship that responded to the incident rescued four of the seven crew members, but the other three who fell into the sea could not be found.  

The Min Long Yu 60877 reportedly sank due to a collision with an unspecified vessel, which the CGA did not elaborate on in their announcement. The CGA is conducting search and rescue operations to find the missing men. 

The timing of the incident will likely enflame tensions between Taiwan and China, as it echoes a similar incident that occurred in February. On Feb. 14, two Chinese fishermen died and another two were detained after they fled from a Taiwan Coast Guard patrol boat and their fishing boat capsized. 

In a striking coincidence, the Kinmen District Prosecutors announced on Friday (Aug. 16) that they will not press charges against Coast Guard officers involved in the February incident. The announcement said the officers did not break any laws and that the Chinese fishermen drowned as a result of their actions. 

In response to the decision of the Kinmen District Prosecutors, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) responded by saying that the findings are “unacceptable.” TAO spokesperson Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) said the prosecutor’s statement ignores the facts of the investigation and deliberately shirks responsibility, reported RFI. 

Less than 24 hours after the Kinmen prosecutor’s decision and the TAO response, a new incident has occurred involving Taiwan’s Coast Guard and the disappearance of Chinese fishermen in unclear circumstances.