Taiwan's Lai backs 'firm' coast guard posture after China boat incident

Taiwan’s president-elect Lai Ching-te said he supports “firm law enforcement” by the island’s coast guard but hopes to avoid a “similar situation”.

Taiwan's president-elect Lai Ching-te on Wednesday said he supports "firm law enforcement" by the island's coast guard but hopes to avoid a "similar situation" after two Chinese nationals died in a boat incident.

The Chinese boat carrying four people capsized last week near Taiwan's Kinmen islands while pursued by the Taiwanese coast guard, throwing all onboard into the water.

Two of the crew died and the other two were rescued and temporarily detained in Kinmen — a territory administered by Taipei but located just five kilometres (three miles) from China's city of Xiamen.

Wu Cheng, a spokesperson for Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), told reporters on Wednesday that the party and its chairman Lai hope the aftermath of the boat incident can be "handled properly".

Lai also "supports the Coast Guard's firm law enforcement in the future and... to study how to avoid similar situation from happening again", according to Wu.

Taiwan had previously defended its actions by saying the Chinese boat was in prohibited waters, while China vowed to up "law enforcement patrol operations" in the area and its coast guard officials briefly boarded a Taiwanese tourist ship on Monday.

The February 14 boat incident occurred against a backdrop of heightened tensions between China and Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing claims as part of its territory.