Taipei on Tuesday repelled a Chinese coast guard boat in delicate waters near Taiwan-held area and opposed the boarding of a Taiwanese traveler boat a day previously, in the most up to date indicators of expanding cross-strait tensions.

The events come much less than a week after the Taiwanese coast guard on Feb. 14 went after Chinese anglers in waters off Kinmen, an island team controlled by Taipei yet located much less than 6 miles from landmass China’s Xiamen’s district, that brought about a tipping over that eliminated 2 individuals.

In a declaration Monday, Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration stated the King Xia Cruise, a traveler ferryboat with 11 team participants and 23 guests aboard, had actually been taking a trip at around 3:33 p.m. neighborhood time in the waters around Kinmen. The declaration stated that to avoid shoals near the location, the ferryboat needed to take a detour by cruising towards the landmass.

At around 4:47 p.m. neighborhood time, 2 Chinese coast guard ships obstructed the King Xia. Six landmass policemans boarded for evaluation and got off half an hour later on. Around 10 mins later on, Taiwan’s coast guard watercrafts accompanied the King Xia back to Kinmen.

Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Minister Kuan Bi-ling informed press reporters Tuesday that the boarding “hurts the feelings of [Taiwanese] people, creates panic among our people, and it’s not in the interests of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” describing the 100 mi.-wide river dividing landmass China from Taiwan.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council preacher Chiu Tai-san stated in a meeting with neighborhood media Tuesday that it was “necessary for both parties to deal with problems rationally and with restraint.”

Earlier, Taiwan’s coast guard slammed its Chinese equivalents. “The mainland also has similar sightseeing ships that go to the waters off Kinmen for guided tours. When such ships that operate in good faith and do not intentionally violate the law stray into our waters, they are chased away through broadcasts and never boarded for inspection,” the declaration stated. 

China has stated it will certainly increase patrols in the waters near Xiamen following the Feb. 14 tipping over in Kinmen.

But Benjamin Ho, organizer of the China program at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, informs TIME that landmass coast guards boarding the Taiwanese excursion ferryboat exhibits just how China will certainly “move the needle on cross-strait relations, and to normalize such behavior in the future.”

Ho mentioned the “way the Chinese have flown planes past the median line regularly now,” describing the informal maritime obstacle in between China and Taiwan.

Beijing has lengthy firmly insisted that Taiwan, the independent island of 23 million individuals, is a basic component of China and has in current years significantly endangered to make use of pressure for reunification.

— Koh Ewe added coverage.