I hope Taiwan will soon return to the motherland. The phrase, barked in the sharp consonants of Northeastern Mandarin Chinese, was not new to me. But hearing it from a uniformed crewmember aboard a ferry in Taiwan’s strategic Keelung harbor was, to say the least, unsettling.
I was aboard the Yaima Maru, a new passenger ferry bound for the Japanese island of Ishigaki, part of Okinawa prefecture and lying just 300 kilometers off the coast of Taiwan. The new ferry restores direct ferry service between Japan and Taiwan after nearly 20 years, but also carries a much more significant and sensitive role than simply ferrying Taiwanese holidaymakers to Ishigaki’s pristine beaches and diving waters. International headlines have focused on a rare admission from Japanese authorities that the Yaima Maru has been designated as a “war evacuation ferry” to be used to evacuate residents of Ishigaki and the surrounding Yaeyama islands to mainland Japan in the case of a Taiwan contingency.
Closer to Taipei than to Naha, the capital of Okinawa prefecture, the Yaeyama islands have long had an intricate history and culture closely linked with that of Taiwan (Yaima is the local pronunciation of Yaeyama).
In 1871 a Miyako and Yaeyama tributary ship returning from Okinawa was shipwrecked on Taiwan and its subsequently massacred by indigenous Paiwanese; Japan took advantage of the situation to formalize its annexation of the Ryukyu Kingdom, as well as send its first overseas military expedition to Taiwan, laying the groundwork for its subsequent colonization of Taiwan in 1895. Ishigaki’s unique culture of pineapple cultivation and water buffalo carts was introduced by Taiwanese migrants during the Japanese period. The ferry restores longstanding historical ties between Taiwanese and Yaeyama peoples.
I have long been a proponent of increasing ferry links between Okinawa and Taiwan, in order to foster mutual understanding between the two peoples, given the immense sacrifice that will be imposed on Okinawa in the event of war.
Until today, it has not been publicly reported that among the ship’s crew are nationals of the People’s Republic of China. If China attacks or blockades Taiwan, Japan’s ability to evacuate civilians from the war zone may be dependent on ships crewed by Chinese nationals. Even more concerning, unvetted Chinese nationals have been given access to critical dual-use port infrastructure in Keelung port next to Taipei, home to one of Taiwan’s five naval logistic support commands as well as a Coast Guard base.
The security of Taiwan’s northern ports has come to the forefront in recent weeks after a fisherman found a Chinese rubber boat had illegally landed in New Taipei City. Two Chinese intruders were later detained by the Coast Guard following the civilian’s complaint, and it remains unclear whether the intruders were engaged in espionage, penetration testing, sabotage, smuggling, or any number of illegal activities threatening Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Yet Taiwanese and Japanese authorities seem unperturbed by the presence of unvetted Chinese seafarers in and around critical port infrastructure. Multinational crews are common on ocean liners and aircraft landing in Taiwan, but this is the first reported instance of Chinese crew in designated national security infrastructure. Taiwanese officials have refused to directly answer whether or not Chinese crew members are allowed to disembark in Keelung and how much access to the port they have.
Formosa Review submitted a detailed list of questions to a number of Taiwanese and Japanese government agencies about whether Chinese crew members of the Yaima Maru are vetted for ties to the Chinese military, intelligence services, United Front organizations, or whether they are allowed to disembark in Keelung, as well as the decision in the first place to employ Chinese crew members.
Authorities with the Port of Keelung reiterated Taiwanese regulations and laws governing access to ports and the issuance of temporary landing permits to Chinese seafarers. According to a manger of the port, who did not want to be publicly named in this report, responsibility for port security and screenings of Chinese crew members falls under the Maritime and Port Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the issuance of temporary landing permits the responsibility of the National Immigration Agency.
When reached for comment, Ms. Chiu from the Maritime and Port Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications stated that, as the Yaima Maru is a Panamanian-flagged vessel “neither the vessel nor its crew falls under our country’s jurisdiction.”
Ms. Chiu’s statement directly conflicted with a statement from a Keelung port official that “With respect to national security matters, [the National Immigration Agency] works with intelligence agencies and relevant authorities to conduct checks.”