The Guang Da Xing No. 28 incident was a fatal shooting incident that occurred on 9 May 2013 involving the 15-ton Taiwanese fishing boat Guang Da Xing No. 28 and the 90-ton Philippine Coast Guard patrol boat Maritime Control Surveillance 3001, resulting in the death of a 65-year old Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-cheng (洪石成) by gunfire from the Philippine vessel.
The incident occurred within the disputed and overlapping exclusive economic zones of Taiwan and the Philippines. After the incident, Taiwan imposed sanctions and conducted a two-day "safety and rescue drill" with its Naval and Coast Guard forces near the waters where the incident occurred, on the grounds that the killing took place within its exclusive economic zone and the Philippine authority's action was in violation of international law. A Philippine official stated that the shooting was a reaction to the threat of being rammed. The incident came under separate investigations by Taiwanese and Philippine authorities; Taiwanese authorities presented evidence of more than 50 bullet holes found on the fishing boat, while Philippine authorities examined a video tape recording of the incident.
The Philippines released the result of the National Bureau of Investigation's inquiry into the incident on 7 August 2013; the NBI recommended homicide charges against eight Philippine Coast Guard personnel involved in the shooting and recommended sanctions against four others for allegedly trying to alter evidence. A day after the release of the investigation report, a representative of the Philippine government traveled to Taiwan to officially apologize to the victim's family. Taiwan subsequently lifted the sanctions it imposed against the Philippines and issued a statement announcing that relations between the two countries have normalized.
Background
Taiwan, the Philippines and China contest control of fishing waters in the South China Sea. On May 7, Chinese media reported that a large number of Chinese fishing vessels were on their way to disputed waters for a 40-day fishing expedition. The announcement provoked an angry response by some politicians in the Philippines, where an election was scheduled for May 13. Walden Bello, a spokesman for the "left" Akbayan party in a coalition with the ruling Liberal Party, called the fishing flotilla "tantamount to an invasion" and warned that Chinese "naval warships and troops" might follow. Taiwanese fishing vessels were also in the region.
Incident
On 9 May 2013, the Taiwanese fishing boat Guang Da Xing No. 28 () was operating about 164 nautical miles southeast of Cape Eluanbi, Taiwan. The vessel was captained by Captain Hung Yu-chih (洪育智); other crew members on board included the captain's father, Hung Shih-cheng (洪石成), the captain's brother-in-law, Hung Jie-shang and an Indonesian national.
The Filipino Maritime Control Surveillance 3001 (MCS-3001), a 35-meter vessel jointly manned by the Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources personnel, detected two fishing boats at 43 nautical miles east of Balintang Island, an area that is within the overlapped EEZs of both Taiwan and the Philippines. Without warning, the Philippine Coast Guard opened fire on the fishing boat during a 50-minute chase that ended around 10:00 am. Fifty-nine (59) bullet holes (45 of which were entry holes) were found on the vessel and the slugs were identified as coming from a semi-automatic rifle. The vessel suffered significant damage, including engine failure, while the main deck experienced severe and concentrated attack, based on the distribution of the bullet holes.
Location
The incident occurred in the overlapping exclusive economic zones between Taiwan and the Philippines. The site of the incident is 43 nautical miles east of Balintang Island according to the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and 170 nautical miles south of Taiwan according to Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both well within the 200 nautical mile range prescribed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. An exception to the 200 nautical mile rule occurs when exclusive economic zones would overlap; that is, state coastal baselines are less than apart as it was in this case. When an overlap occurs, it is up to the states to delineate the actual maritime boundary. Generally, any point within an overlapping area defaults to the nearest state.