Qiandao Lake Incident

The Qiandao Lake Incident (zh-st|s=千岛湖事件|t=千島湖事件) refers to the 1994 kidnap and murder of Taiwanese tourists and local guides and staff in the Qiandao Lake scenic area, in Zhejiang, China. Insensitive treatment by the local government and police force after the event, including censoring information and unprofessional criminal investigation procedures, led to a public backlash in Taiwan against the People's Republic of China government. This led to increased support in Taiwan for Taiwan independence.

Course of the incident

On March 31 1994, a ferry named "Hairen" was hijacked by three men in Qiandao Lake, located in Chun'an County, Hangzhou, in Zhejiang Province. The ship ended up on fire, and all 32 people on board at the time were killed, including 24 passengers from Taiwan, along with 6 mainland Chinese crew and 2 mainland Chinese tour guides.

The "Hairen" ferry was supposed to have returned on the night of the 31st. Instead, on the morning of April 1, it was discovered ablaze. The local civilians immediately reported it to the police. The police did not find any passengers or sailors on the ship initially, and the Chun'an County government organized police, on-duty troops and civilians to search in the Qiandao Lake region, but did not discover any of the missing passengers. After the fire was put out, the police discovered 32 bodies in the lower cabin of the ship. However, during the investigation of the case, the local police department did not inform the general public of the progress of the investigation. This led to the public's belief that the local government was blocking the information, concealing the events and controlling the media.

Investigation

On April 2, the Hangzhou police department arranged medical experts to analyze all the discovered bodies.

On April 4, the families of the victims arrived in Chun'an County from Taiwan. The Mainland Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) set up receptions in various cities to accommodate the families; at the same time, the Taiwanese Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) requested assistance for letting the families to go to the scene of the incident to deal with related issues, but was refused by ARATS.

On April 6, the Zhejiang provincial police department joined the investigation.

On the same day, the Zhejiang government invited Master Jiyun of the Hangzhou Lingyin Temple to do the ceremony that release souls from purgatory, but denied the families of the victims to visit the remains of the victims and the request to review the autopsy report. Under the protest of the families, the remains were cremated in Tonglu County in Hangzhou. The remains of the victims were given to the families to bury; the ashes of the Taiwanese tourists were given to their family for them to bring back to Taiwan with the assistance of the Taiwanese Changfeng Travel Agency.

The People's Republic of China local government initially reported this as a ship fire, but this statement was strongly opposed by the families of the victims and other Taiwanese people. The foreign media also issued all kinds of reports and speculations.

On April 9, the then president of Republic of China Lee Teng-hui publicly criticized the Communist Party of China as acting "like bandits", and claimed that the case was robbery committed by Chinese People's Liberation Army soldiers, as had been claimed by Taiwanese intelligence. After the case was over, some thought that the reason that the provincial government of Zhejiang did not publicize case facts was not to jeopardise the investigation. But, there were other opinions that thought it was essentially censorship, which destroys the image of the Communist government. Besides, the People's Republic of China police departments involved in the case lacked scientific investigative procedures; for example, they washed the "Hairen" ferry, which destroyed all the remaining evidence. The scene of crime was damaged and no further clues could be found for the investigation.

On April 12, the vice president of the ARATS Tang Shubei met the deputy general secretary of the SEF Shi Qiping, and proclaimed that the incident was only a ship fire, and stressed that the Mainland authorities would deal with the problems created by the incident to their best ability.

However, the Taiwanese side strongly disagreed with the statement by Tang. They believed that the mainland local government initially blocked the information, and then refused to change its attitude. The Taiwanese authority responded to this by announcing "all interflows between the two straights to be temporarily stopped", and halted all tour travels to Mainland China starting May 1st. The Board of Trade of the Taiwan stopped the discussion on the investment case to the mainland, and the Board of Education stopped the culture interflow between the two straits. The travel agencies were also halted from going on tour to the PRC. All the connections between Taiwan and Mainland China were nearly completely cut off.

On April 15 the three suspects were arraigned by the court.

On April 17, the PRC Zhejiang provincial police department announced that the case had been solved, and that it was a "major robbery, arson and murder case". Three suspects were arrested. Two of the suspects were military personnel, one being a retired serviceman, another being the brother of an armed police officer. Regardless, the families of the victims questioned the possibility of 32 men subdued by three criminals.

On April 18 the PRC Premier Li Peng announced talks to explain the case.

On May 8, the Taiwanese SEF organized a group to go to the scene of the incident to comprehend the case.

On June 3, PRC authorities in Hangzhou City announced public prosecution.

On June 10, the common pleas of the Hangzhou City reached the last instance. During the trial, the ARATS invited the SEF to visit the public prosecution, and contacted the SEF once again before the last instance, but was refused by the SEF. The families of the victims also refused to visit the process of the trial.

On June 12, the verdict was made, and the three suspects Wu Lihong, Hu Zhihan, Yu Aijun were all charged of robbery and murder, and were sentenced to death, deprived of political rights for life time.

On June 19, the three convicted were executed.

Consequences

However, in accordance to the several doubted point that the Taiwanese authorities addressed, the People's Republic of China government avoided further clarification. The Taiwanese Mainland Affairs Council announced a statement on June 15 that criticized the way the PRC authorities treated the Qiandao Lake Incident, which may lead the case to be unsettled.

Because most of the evidence was concealed by the PRC officials, information about the case could not be verified and therefore led to speculations and rumors. Eventually, the Qiandao Lake Incident turned from a regular criminal case into a serious political event.

Effects

To a greater extent, the Qiandao Lake Incident jeopardized the reconciliation on the relations between Taiwan and mainland China. It was a crucial event that turned the public opinion of Taiwan around on the matters of Chinese reunification. The percentage of Taiwanese people that supported reunification decreased by a margin of two tenths after the incident, while the percentage in support of Taiwan independence instantly went up by a margin of one tenth. Around half the general population supported the present situation between Taiwan and mainland China to be unchanged. [According to the result of United Daily News public poll in April 1994, the percentage of people who agreed or supported Taiwan Independence went up by 42%.] These were the direct consequences of the incident, which displayed the dissatisfaction of the Taiwanese people against the Mainland China government.

As a result, Taiwanese tourism in mainland China suffered major setbacks, as the Taiwanese government temporarily halted group tour travel to the mainland after the incident. [ [http://www.hotel-online.com/Trends/AsiaPacificJournal/TravelBetweenChinaAndTaiwan_1997.html#Fig%202 Total Arrival of Visitors from Taiwan to the Mainland] ]

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.taiwandc.org/twcom/tc61-int.pdf Fire on the Lake: The Thousand Island Lake Tragedy]