TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taiwanese tour boat in Kinmen strayed near Chinese territorial waters when it was intercepted by a China coast guard ship and boarded by Chinese personnel on Monday (Feb. 19).

While taking a tour on the sightseeing ship "King Xia," tourists noticed unknown persons boarding the vessel, reported CNA. The travelers became concerned they would be detained in China when they realized it was the Chinese coast guard.

In a Monday evening statement, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that at 4:47 p.m., its radar and infrared thermal imaging systems detected two Chinese coast guard ships 5.1 km northwest of Kinmen's Wushajiao. Because the Chinese vessels were detected alongside a Taiwanese tour boat, the CGA dispatched the patrol boat PP-10039 to the scene.

According to the CGA, six Chinese coast guard officers boarded the boat. After inspecting King Xia, examining its navigation plan, ship documents, captain and crew licenses, and obtaining the captain's signature, the Chinese personnel disembarked at 5:19 p.m.

After conducting an investigation, the CGA found that King Xia had departed at 3:33 p.m. from Kinmen's Shuitou Port with 11 Taiwanese crew members and 23 passengers onboard. The boat's tour was originally planned for sightseeing around Kinmen waters.

However, due to shallow sandbars outside Wushajiao, the ship strayed near Chinese territorial waters during the voyage. When the CGA patrol boat arrived at the scene at 5:33 p.m., it assessed the situation and accompanied King Xia back to Shuitou Port.

The CGA said King Xia was a local sightseeing boat based in Kinmen. The CGA pointed out that Chinese sightseeing boats occasionally accidentally wander into Taiwan's territorial waters off Kinmen, but it does not conduct such boardings on Chinese tour boats.

In cases in which, "There was no intentional violation of the law and the ship entered our waters by mistake," the CGA said broadcast warnings have been used to instruct them to leave, and no inspections have been conducted.

The CGA called on China to "uphold peace and rationality and jointly maintain tranquility" in the waters around Kinmen and Xiamen. It also reminded Taiwanese citizens to avoid approaching waters on the Chinese side when engaging in maritime-related activities to ensure safety.