China’s coast guard has triggered ‘panic’ in Taiwan. That’s only part of Beijing’s plan

Hong Kong/Taipei CNN —

King Xia, a Taiwanese tourist boat, was taking 23 passengers on a journey around Taiwan’s outlying Kinmen Islands just miles from China’s southeastern coast when it was intercepted by two Chinese coast guard vessels.

Six Chinese officers swooped onboard, checking the vessel’s route plan, certificate and the licenses of its 11 crew members in a “forced” inspection that lasted about half an hour, according to Taiwan’s coast guard, which said King Xia had “veered toward” the Chinese side of the water to avoid shoals.

The unprecedented encounter with Chinese law enforcement at a time of heightened tension between Beijing and Taipei startled Taiwanese passengers onboard.

“It’s super scary,” a passenger told Taiwan’s United Daily News in a video upon returning to shore under the escort of a Taiwanese coast guard ship on Monday. “(I was) so afraid that I wouldn’t be able to come back to Taiwan.”

Kuan Bi-ling, head of Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council, said Tuesday the incident triggered “panic” among the Taiwanese public.

For years, sightseeing boat tours between Kinmen and Xiamen, the closest city on the Chinese mainland, have offered Taiwanese tourists a chance to gaze at China’s dazzling skyline without the hassle of border checks, with China operating similar tour boats for its citizens too.

But now, the popular route has been caught up in rising tensions as China’s coast guard ramps up patrols in the area – in what analysts say is Beijing’s latest effort to tilt the status quo in its favor by undermining Taiwan’s control of the waters.

The escalation came after two Chinese fishermen drowned last week when their speedboat capsized during a pursuit by Taiwan’s coast guard, who accused them of