China says no banned areas around Taiwan islands after two killed

BEIJING (Reuters) -- There are no off limits or restricted areas for fishing around a group of Taiwanese islands close to China's coast and Beijing reserves the right to take further measures after two Chinese nationals died near the islands, the government said.

Taiwan on Thursday defended the actions of its coast guard after two people on a Chinese speedboat, which got too close to a frontline Taiwanese island, died when their boat overturned while trying to flee a coast guard ship. Two others survived.