Foreign Lawmakers Tour Waters Around Taiwan’s Kinmen Amid China Pressure
A group of seven foreign lawmakers boarded a Taiwan coast guard vessel on Thursday to tour the waters around Taiwan's outlying Kinmen islands. The visit comes as China ramps up maritime pressure around Taiwan.
Foreign Lawmakers Tour Tense Taiwanese Waters
REPORTER:
British MP Tom Tugendhat sits aboard a Taiwanese coast guard vessel passing through tense waters.
This tour is from the London-based Interparliamentary-Alliance on China and includes lawmakers from the UK, India, New Zealand, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic. From the boat’s windows, they can see the outlying Taiwanese island of Kinmen and the skyline of the Chinese city of Xiamen a short distance away.
China claims all of Taiwan, these waters included. And China’s has been pushing the limits of Taiwan’s sovereign territory, here and elsewhere with regular intrusions by its coast guard. For the foreign lawmakers on this tour, it’s unacceptable.
Tom Tugendhat (BRITISH LAWMAKER):
This is nothing to do with Beijing. I'm in Taiwan. I'm in Taiwanese waters. This has nothing to do with Beijing. This has to do with simply defending the international rules-based system that the Chinese government in Beijing claims to have signed up to.
REPORTER:
Tugendhat is especially concerned about a new airport China’s building for Xiamen, off in the distance, with no coordination from Taiwan.
The tour for these guests lasts just 90 minutes, but they have a lot to take away. Some also have advice for Taiwan as it faces its giant neighbor.
Yulia Sirko (UKRAINIAN LAWMAKER):
If you want peace, start prepare for war. And unfortunately, we didn't do it, in the, in the right time. So this is lesson number one from Ukrainian experience.
REPORTER:
The coast guard personnel leading the tour hope it leaves an impression.
Tsai Chung-mou (COAST GUARD ADMINISTRATION):
We hope that all countries around the world
that support freedom and democracy can understand
that Kinmen stands on the front line in the Taiwan Strait
facing the Chinese Communist Party across the sea.
Through our briefing, we hope to help parliamentary representatives
from different countries gain a better understanding
of the overall situation in Taiwan’s waters.
REPORTER:
The tour likely won’t have much impact on Beijing’s moves—China's foreign ministry didn't even immediately comment on it. But, among those who’ve taken part, at least, it’s let them see a potential flashpoint of conflict from a Taiwanese perspective, with a chance they’ll take that point of view back home with them.
