Quanzhou Red Cross Society: DPP authorities have no sincerity in handling fishing boat incident

Staff of the Red Cross Society of Quanzhou, Fujian Province, have returned from Kinmen with the families of the two victims of the fishing boat incident in mid-February in waters near the island.

They said the Democratic Progressive Party authorities showed no sincerity in talks aimed at resolving the problem and that there was no reason for them to stay in Kinmen, saying that the DPP authorities shall bear all the consequences.

Li Zhaohui from the Red Cross Society of Quanzhou said it's been 21 days since the incident, and they've been dealing with the relevant side in Kinmen for 15 days.

He said that despite many negotiations, statements by the Taiwan region's authorities have been full of inconsistencies and lies, without any convincing explanations about how the incident happened.

Li stressed that the authorities on the island of Taiwan set various obstacles to the reasonable concerns and requests of the victims' families, making it more difficult to properly handle the aftermath.

The staff said that the person in charge of this from the Taiwan side continued to distort the facts and shirk responsibility in a presentation to the legislative body in Taipei on Monday.

He revealed that the negotiators over the incident from the Taiwan region left Kinmen on Sunday, and they have not returned and left no messages.

The tragedy happened on February 14 when a fishing boat from the mainland was chased and rammed by a Taiwan patrol vessel in the Xiamen-Kinmen waters, causing all four people on board to fall into the sea, resulting in two fatalities.

(Cover: The staff of the Red Cross Society of Quanzhou, Fujian Province, and the families of the victims of the fishing boat incident return from Kinmen to Xiamen City, southeast China's Fujian Province, March 5, 2024. /China Media Group)