TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A rising tide of illegal boat crossings is impacting border security in Kinmen County, the latest arrival being a Chinese man who tried to paddle his way into Taiwanese territory on a rubber boat on Sunday (Aug. 22).

The incident is the third instance of border crossings caught in the last week, according to a Formosa News report.

It was at 11:13 a.m. on Sunday when the commander of Taiwan’s Coast Guard, Patrol Area 12, detected an unidentified vessel moving slowly through waters surrounding Little Kinmen island (小金門), just off a cape known by locals as “Phoenix Lips” (鳳嘴).

The Coast Guard immediately dispatched two patrol boats, PP-3573 and CP-1022, to intercept the vessel. Arriving on the scene at 11:50 a.m, Taiwanese personnel found a lone Chinese national paddling a rubber dinghy as fast as he could toward the rocky shore, still about one nautical mile away.

The officers, who came dressed in full PPE suits, arrested the man and immediately took his temperature and disinfected him on the spot before sending him to headquarters to do mandatory COVID-19 quarantine.



After completing quarantine, he will be transferred to the Kinmen County Prosecutor's Office to face charges for his illegal entry into Taiwanese territory.

Once ashore, the man protested that he had come to Taiwan to study Buddhism and longed for Taiwan’s democracy and freedom, echoing the claims of another Chinese stowaway who attempted to cross into Kinmen in April.

This latest arrest is the third case of illegal border crossing in the last seven days. On Tuesday (Aug 17.), three Taiwanese were arrested for entering into the country’s waters from China via boat, and on Wednesday (Aug. 18) a Chinese national was arrested at Dadan (大膽島), a tiny islet off Little Kinmen.