Taipei [Taiwan], March 14 : Taiwan and China have initiated a joint rescue mission following a fishing boat capsizing incident near Taiwan's Kinmen Islands, aimed at locating two missing crew members, as reported by Aljazeera.
The boat, with six individuals on board, sank approximately 1.07 nautical miles southwest of Dongding islet around 6 am on Thursday, as reported by Taiwanese authorities.
According to Aljazeera, two people have been confirmed dead, while two survivors have been rescued from the scene.
The area is sensitive because Kinmen is located just 5km (three miles) off China's eastern coast.
This joint operation, involving six Chinese rescue ships, comes precisely a month after a fatal incident involving the Taiwanese coastguard's pursuit of a Chinese fishing boat, which resulted in two deaths and escalated tensions between Taipei and Beijing, as per Aljazeera.
Taiwan's Coast Guard chief, Chou Mei-wu, revealed that Taiwan dispatched four boats in response to Chinese authorities' request for assistance.
He noted the frequency of such requests, citing 119 individuals rescued through similar efforts over the past three years.
"The waters are narrow around the Kinmen-Xiamen [area] and cooperation between Taiwan and China is very important," he said, referring to the cities that face each other across the strait.
In response to last month's incident, China's coastguard has intensified patrols around the Kinmen islands.
Additionally, Beijing faced criticism in Taiwan for briefly boarding a Taiwanese cruise ship, sparking panic among passengers.
Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve its goals.
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