Taiwan investigates how a fishing boat managed to enter a strategic river mouth

11/6/2024 19:57

        Taiwanese authorities are investigating how an alleged former Chinese naval officer sailed a small boat into a strategic river mouth that leads to the capital of the self-governing island republic.
        
        The small boat was detected off the coast but apparently was not interdicted until it began interfering with ferry traffic across the Tamsui River, which flows from the mountains of inner Taiwan into the 160-kilometer (100-mile) -wide Taiwan Strait that separates Taiwan and China, which split during a civil war in 1949.
        
        The boat’s pilot was identified as a 60-year-old former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy surnamed Ruan, the official Central News Agency said, raising questions as to whether the voyage was an attempt to test Taiwan’s detection and defense capabilities amid rising Chinese threats to conquer the island it claims as its own territory.