After the two sides of the strait reached a consensus, the "14 · Kinmen vicious collision with ships" incident also officially came to an end, and Taiwan's "director of the Coast Guard" finally made a public apology, but the former captain of the Taiwan Navy was not happy.
After a lapse of more than five months, the "2·14 Kinmen vicious collision" incident finally ushered in new progress. The cross-strait consultation meeting originally scheduled for last week had to be postponed due to the sudden typhoon "Gemei." After further discussions between the two sides of the strait, it is scheduled to be agreed this week on matters related to the aftermath.
As a result, representatives from both sides of the strait and their families also arrived in Kinmen one day ahead of schedule. The consultations were held at the Jinhu Hotel in Kinmen, and the mainland side sent six representatives, including Li Zhaohui, deputy director of the mainland's Quanzhou City Taiwan Affairs Office, and Xu Weiwei, director of the Coordination Division of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, while the Taiwan side was represented by Xie Qingqin, deputy director of Taiwan's "Coast Guard," Zhou Mingrui, director of the Legal Affairs Division of the Mainland Affairs Council, and representatives of the Straits Exchange Foundation.
After Li Zhaohui and his entourage arrived in Kinmen, representatives of Taiwan's "Coast Guard" also personally greeted them at the scene. As a matter of fact, judging from the arrangement of representatives sent by the two sides of the strait this time, the mainland side is basically non-governmental representatives, while the Taiwan side is sending officials above a certain level, which also means that the two sides of the strait no longer just follow the "official-to-official" or "non-governmental" consultation method.
Although this negotiation was also full of twists and turns, fortunately, the ending was quite satisfying. After consultations between representatives of the two sides of the strait, the two sides signed a five-point consensus, which includes a description of the circumstances of the incident, the amount of consolation, and an apology. It has been learned that this time the Taiwan side will give 1.5 million yuan as a consolation money for the family members and return the mainland's fishing boats and the fishermen's bodies to the mainland.
On the same day, Kinmen also held a public memorial for the fishermen who were killed, and the Kinmen county magistrate and Taiwan's "deputy director of the Coast Guard" were present to express their condolences. Not only that, Taiwan's "Coast Guard Director" Zhang Zhonglong also publicly apologized. However, Zhang Zhonglong only apologized for the lack of evidence and video in this incident.
You must know that at the beginning of the incident, both inside and outside the island called on Taiwan's "Coast Guard" to make public the video footage of its law enforcement scene, but Taiwan's "Coast Guard" has always been secretive and refused to make it public, and even used the excuse that it did not install video equipment this time.
In addition, they have repeatedly refused to apologize for the accident caused by Taiwan's "Coast Guard" in this brutal law enforcement and have shifted the blame to the mainland fishermen. The two sides of the strait have also held as many as 15 consultations, but they have never been able to break through the deadlock because of the Taiwan side's attitude of shirking responsibility and refusing to take responsibility.
This incident has also had a very bad impact on cross-strait relations, and now the Taiwan authorities have realized that only by sitting down for dialogue with the mainland can they truly solve the problem. Of course, the Taiwan side has played a trick on its head this time, and the apology demanded by the mainland is to apologize for the rough law enforcement by Taiwan's "Coast Guard" and for its acts of infringing on the interests and safety of mainland fishermen.
However, Zhang Zhonglong did not say a word about this, which also proves that the Taiwan authorities only want to turn the page on this matter as soon as possible, and they do not really solve the relevant problems with the mainland. On the one hand, the reason why the Taiwan authorities are so anxious is that the Kinmen incident has dragged on for more than five months, which has also had a great impact on cross-strait exchanges, and mainland tourists have refused to visit Kinmen because of this.
On the other hand, there has been no news of the Penghu fishing boat "Dajinman 88," which was previously seized by the mainland, and the Taiwan side also hopes that the mainland will release the boat and the people as soon as possible, otherwise it will not be able to give an account to the island and the families concerned. Therefore, the Taiwan authorities want to show goodwill to the mainland by resolving the Kinmen collision incident, so that they can push forward the process of the mainland's return of the "Dajinman No. 88" fishing boat.
In the past two days, Kuomintang "legislator" Chen Yuzhen has also publicly revealed that she plans to accompany the relevant family members to the mainland next month in an effort to bring back the detainees, and at the same time, she also plans to discuss with the mainland the matter of allowing mainland tourists to visit Kinmen. It is worth mentioning that although the "14 ·February vicious collision with a ship" incident has come to an end, Zhang Jing, former captain of the Taiwan Navy, is not happy.
It is reported that Zhang Jing said that although the incident has come to an end, the law enforcement efforts and situation of the mainland coast guard in the Xiajinhai area have also undergone major changes, forming a kind of "new normal." It is obviously impossible to return to before the incident, and I am afraid that the island can only take over.
The real test is how the maritime law enforcement units on both sides of the strait maintain goodwill exchanges and stable interactions. In addition, the case has entered the stage of judicial investigation, but the progress of the relevant investigation on the island has obviously failed to satisfy the people on the island. Therefore, the impact of this incident is destined to be ineliminate, and the Taiwan authorities must also bear the price for their own mistakes.