台湾に近い中国の島　沿岸警備強化発表後も多くの観光客

【平潭（中国）ＡＦＰ＝時事】中国で最も台湾に近い場所の一つ、平潭島には６日、強風を物ともせず多くの中国人観光客が訪れていた。中国軍が台湾海峡の沿岸警備を強化したことも気にならない様子だ。（写真は台湾に近い中国・平潭島を訪れた中国人観光客）
　台湾の蔡英文総統は５日、米カリフォルニア州に立ち寄り、ケビン・マッカーシー下院議長と会談。これに合わせて中国当局は、同海峡の警備強化を発表した。
　さらに中国政府は両氏の会談後、自国領土である台湾を守るため「断固たる、強力な措置」を取ると強調した。
　平潭島は台湾の馬祖島の南約８０キロ、台北から１８６キロの位置にあり、中国人民解放軍の基地が置かれている。
　島を訪れたＡＦＰ取材班は、付近の海上を貨物船や漁船が往来するのを目にした。軍事活動が通常より特に活発に行われている様子はなかった。
　団体観光客は岩の多い沿岸を歩き、自撮りしていた。ある女子学生（２０）は蔡氏の訪米には反対であり、同氏は米国に「屈従」しているとの考えを示した。「台湾が独立国だったことは一度もない。中国の台湾省だ」「いつか必ず再統一される」と語った。
　別の２０代の女性は、昨夏行われたような大規模な軍事演習が「きょう起こるとは思っていない」と話した。
　ＡＦＰは他の観光客にも取材を試みたが、蔡氏の訪米に関するニュースを追っていない、もしくは複雑な中台関係問題をよく理解していないとして断られた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/04/07-16:55）

Tourist groups visiting Pingtan Island -- one of the closest points in southeastern China to Taiwan -- braved blustery seaside weather on Thursday and shrugged off the boosted maritime patrols in the flashpoint waters beyond them.
Chinese maritime authorities announced beefed-up coastguard operations in the Taiwan Strait to coincide with the Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen holding talks with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California on Wednesday. After their meeting, Beijing vowed to take firm and forceful measures to safeguard Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory.
AFP saw cargo boats and fishers plying the choppy waters off the rocky Pingtan coastline, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Taiwan's Matsu Islands and 186 kilometres (115 miles) from Taipei.
Clusters of tourists milled around snapped selfies by the shore, although there were no signs of extra military activity.
Tour guides on the island, which is home to a People's Liberation Army base, brandished brightly coloured flags and marshalled groups of visitors.
Some wore red T-shirts emblazoned with China, I love you around the sights.
On a windswept bridge between rocky outcrops, a college student surnamed Du told AFP she opposed Tsai's American trip, saying the Taiwanese leader was bending the knee to the United States.
Taiwan has never been independent. It is China's Taiwan province, the 20-year-old said. Our country will certainly reunify one day.
But not every response was so fervent.
I really like Taiwan... The people are very friendly, and they're just like us, a male tourist in his twenties said.
I hope it returns to China in the near future, he added, declining to give his name due to the sensitivity of the issue.
There was little concern that the misty waters would witness military drills like those seen last summer, with one woman in her twenties saying was not expecting to see anything like that here today.
Several other people declined to comment, saying they had not followed Tsai's US trip or didn't understand the complexities of cross-strait relations.
- On patrol -
Meanwhile, live footage broadcast by state media on Thursday showed the Haixun 06 vessel leading a patrol in choppy waters beneath grey skies in the central and northern parts of the Taiwan Strait.
Images shot from the deck of the ship flying a blue flag showed another unidentifiable vessel travelling in the same direction several hundred metres to its right.
At one point in the video feed, a man held up a camera to show an image taken just moments before of the other ship, although poor image quality prevented identification of further details.
According to a 2021 report by state media, the Haixun 06 is 128.6 metres (421.9 feet) long and began construction in 2019.
The ship has a green flat deck at the stern, a white exterior and a long narrow bow, and is equipped with a helicopter landing pad, basic medical treatment facilities, and space to rescue 200 people.