Chinese mainland criticizes Taiwan's findings on fatal fishing boat incident near Jinmen

A spokeswoman from the Chinese mainland on Friday criticized Taiwan's released investigation findings regarding a mainland fishing boat incident earlier this year near Jinmen, where two fishermen died, as disregarding the facts.

On Feb 14, a fishing boat from Fujian was reportedly driven and hit by a patrol boat from Taiwan in waters near Jinmen, leading to all four fishermen on board falling into the sea. While two fishermen lost their lives, the other two were rescued and returned to the mainland.

The Jinmen prosecutors announced on Friday that due to lack of evidence, they decided not to prosecute the Taiwan patrol boat captain and driver responsible for the collision with the mainland boat.

According to Taiwan media reports, the Jinmen prosecutors said that the two surviving mainland fishermen were unable to confirm if the capsizing was caused by a collision, making it difficult to determine that the collision led to the capsizing.

The Jinmen prosecutors said that the capsized fishing boat was operating illegally, and its design was considered unsafe.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said that the so-called "investigation findings" disregard the facts and deliberately shift responsibility, which is unacceptable to us.

The relevant authorities in Taiwan should truthfully disclose the facts, harshly punish those responsible, and ensure that similar incidents do not occur in the future, she said.