STORY: ::July 3, 2024

::The White House is 'closely monitoring' China's

reported seizure of a Taiwanese fishing boat

::Karine Jean-Pierre

White House Press Secretary

::Washington, D.C.

"On the fish boat, We're obviously closely monitoring the incident, so we're going to continue to do that."

"Has the US reached out to Japan and Taiwan to officer support over those incidents?"

"I don't have any calls, obviously, to speak to at this time. But we encourage both sides to maintain open lines of communication so they can get to a resolution here. And that's what we call for."

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has ramped up pressure on Taipei since May when President Lai Ching-te took office, a man Beijing accuses of being a "separatist."

The squid fishing boat was near the Taiwan-administered Kinmen islands, which sit next to the Chinese cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou, but in Chinese waters on Tuesday night when it was boarded and seized by two Chinese maritime administration boats, Taiwan's coast guard said.

The Taiwanese boat was operating during China's no-fishing period, the coast guard said, adding Taiwan will communicate with China and urge them to release the fishermen as soon as possible.