Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson of Taiwan Affairs Office of State Council. Photo: VCG

Quanzhou city’s Red Cross Society in East China’s Fujian Province will send representatives to accompany affected families to Kinmen in Taiwan island to manage the aftermath after the violent chasing by the Taiwan side of a mainland fishing boat resulted in the tragic deaths of two fishermen, the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said on Monday. 

Two fishermen from the Chinese mainland were killed after a fishing boat from the southeastern Fujian Province was chased on February 14 by Taiwan authorities in the waters near Kinmen, a group of islets in the Taiwan Straits. Four people on board fell into the water and two of them died. 

Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Monday that authorities in East China’s Fujian Province, as well as in Quanzhou city, Fujian, have been communicating with the affected families of the crew members. 

It has been decided that representatives from the Red Cross Society in Quanzhou city, alongside other relevant departments, will accompany the families to Kinmen on February 20 to facilitate the return of the two surviving crew members and manage the aftermath, Zhu said. 

Zhu stressed that the relevant authorities in Taiwan should facilitate and make arrangements for the crew members’ families and related individuals traveling to Kinmen, attentively addressing their legitimate concerns. They should cooperate in managing the aftermath and prevent further harm to the feelings of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. 

Global Times