Collision with mystery Chinese warship led to 1-hour standoff with Taiwanese freighter

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/09
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A week after a mysterious Chinese warship collided with a Taiwanese freighter, the Taiwanese ship's captain says that the collision was followed by a one-hour standoff as the Chinese vessel tried to force the Taiwanese freighter to sail to China.

In a press release issued on Aug. 1 by the Coast Guard Administration, Ocean Affairs Council, the Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch reported that at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, the Yutai No. 1 was slammed into by an unidentified Chinese warship 19.5 miles southeast of Liaoluo Port in Kinmen, according to CNA. The Taiwanese ship sustained damage but none of its crew were injured, according to the report.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the 72-year-old captain of the Taiwanese ship Fu Shih-hour said that the commander of the Chinese warship tried to coerce him into navigating his ship into China's port of Xiamen. Fu said he refused the Chinese captain's demands and instead called the Taiwan Coast Guard for help.

After receiving the distress signal from Fu, the Kinmen branch of the Coast Guard dispatched PP-10053 to the scene, and PP-10039 was sent to support it. By 10 p.m., PP-10053 established contact with Yutai No. 1 and confirmed that the hull was damaged, but there were no safety concerns and the crew was unharmed.    [FULL  STORY]