Taiwan’s coast guard announced on Saturday ( Nov. 16 ) that a fishing boat captain who had been imprisoned in China for more than four months has been released after having paid a fine.
Five team members were aboard the ship, Da Jin Man 88, when it was seized by China’s coast guard on July 2 for violating Beijing’s annual fishing ban.
Taipei governs the Kinmen territories, but they are only a few kilometers from the mainland of China.
The boat’s commander and four members of the crew were let go on Friday while the boat’s four members were released in August.
Taiwan’s coast guard escorted the boat to Penghu, an archipelago where it is registered, and arrived at around midnight ( 4pm GMT ), a Taiwan coast guard official told AFP on Saturday.
Taiwan’s coast guard said the ship left Quanzhou, China, on Friday evening, at about 2 p.m. after “penalty procedures were finished.”
Although the official did not provide specifics about the fine, Taiwan media reported that two Penghu politicians had assisted in the payment of more than 210 000 Chinese yuan ( US$ 29, 000 ) as part of the transaction.
The captain’s release and “punitive methods” were confirmed in a statement from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Friday, according to a statement released on Friday.