Mainland China and Taiwan have reached a deal over the deaths of two mainland fishermen in February, agreeing to compensate the victims’ families and repatriate the bodies of the two men.
The agreement broke a political stalemate and ended months of finger-pointing between the two sides, which had not officially met to resolve the incident since March.
The men drowned after their boat capsized during a chase by the Taiwanese coastguard in waters off the Taiwanese defence outpost of Quemoy, also known as Kinmen, on February 14.
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Mainland and Taiwanese officials met soon after the incident, holding 15 rounds of talks, but the negotiations stalled in March.
The incident added fuel to the flames of cross-strait relations, with the Taiwanese coastguard accusing the men of trespassing in restricted waters and mainland officials accusing the island’s authorities of “rough dispersal of the fishing boat”.
However, the mainland and Taiwan signed an agreement on the return of the bodies and their vessel and compensation.
“It has been over five months since the incident occurred. The two sides have finally reached consensus in their negotiations,” said Li Zhaohui, deputy director of the Quanzhou Taiwan Affairs Office.
“We hope that the relevant parties in Taiwan will actively implement the agreed-upon terms, to bring peace to the victims and their families.”
The agreement was witnessed by members of the affected families, in the presence of Li and Xu Weiwei, from the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits.
Taiwan Coast Guard Administration deputy director General Hsieh Ching-chin was among the Taiwanese officials who took part in the talks at the Jinhu Hotel in Quemoy.
However, the two sides have yet to disclose the details of the terms. When asked, Hsieh said only that an agreement was reached after Tuesday’s talks, and that the atmosphere of the talks was nice.
The agreement comes after signs of progress earlier this month, when TAO spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian said the two sides were in touch on the matter and hoped the issues “can be properly resolved through negotiation”.
Discussions were scheduled last week but postponed because of Typhoon Gaemi.
The talks were a rare instance of direct discussions between officials from both sides. Beijing cut off communication with Taipei in 2016 in protest over the decision by Taiwan’s then leader Tsai Ing-wen not to acknowledge the one-China principle – something Beijing regards as the foundation for any talks.
Liang Wen-chieh, vice-chairman of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, described the talks as “between the parties involved” rather than “official-to-official”.
Prospects for an improvement in cross-strait relations remained dim after William Lai Ching-te, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party and a man branded by Beijing as a “troublemaker”, was elected to succeed Tsai as Taiwan’s leader.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state. However, Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
More from South China Morning Post:
- 5 months after fishermen deaths off Quemoy, can Beijing and Taiwan put tragedy to rest?
- China Coast Guard detains Taiwanese fishing boat and 5 crew members near Quemoy
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