Taiwan has strengthened its security measures, its prime minister said Tuesday, following the arrest of a Chinese man who illegally entered the island aboard a small boat.
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The Taiwanese coast guard arrested him on Sunday after his boat collided with other boats on the Tamsui River, which connects the capital Taipei to the northern coast of the island.
The man, aged 60, told the coast guard he wanted to “defect”, according to the semi-official Central News Agency.
“The government and all national security units and teams are paying close attention” to the incident, Prime Minister Cho Jung-tai told reporters on Tuesday, adding that an investigation was underway.
“National security cannot be neglected for a minute,” he continued, specifying that the security forces had been ordered to “immediately strengthen protection measures”.
Taiwan is constantly on guard for potential Chinese spies.
In April, a father and son were sentenced to eight years in prison for collecting confidential military information and attempting to set up a spy “organization” on behalf of Beijing.
The coast guard said the boat was spotted around 9 a.m. (1 a.m. GMT) 11 kilometers off the coast of Tamsui, a district on the outskirts of Taipei.
In 2021, a Chinese man was arrested in the central city of Taichung after successfully crossing the Taiwan Strait in an inflatable boat. According to police, he said he came to Taiwan to seek “freedom and democracy.” He was deported to China in 2022, according to local media.
China considers the autonomously governed island of Taiwan to be part of its territory and says it is ready to reconquer it by force if necessary.
Tensions across the Taiwan Strait have increased since the inauguration on May 20 of new Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te.
