The incident comes as Beijing announces increased patrols near Taiwan's Kinmen Islands following the deaths of two Chinese fishermen in the area.
Chinese Coast Guard officials briefly boarded a Taiwanese cruise ship on Monday in an incident that the Taipei government said caused panic among people on the self-ruled island.
The incident near Taiwan's Kinmen Islands, off the coast of the Chinese cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou, came a day after Beijing said it would step up patrols in the area in response to the deaths of two Chinese fishermen who drowned. last week while they were being chased. by the Taiwan Coast Guard.
In a statement on Monday, Taiwan's Coast Guard said six Chinese officials boarded the Taiwanese tourist boat, which was carrying 11 crew members and 23 passengers.
Chinese officials checked the ship's route plan, certificate and crew licenses and left about half an hour later.
Taiwan's Coast Guard said it sent its personnel to the scene. They arrived shortly after their Chinese counterparts left the cruise ship and “accompanied the ship to Shuitou port” in Kinmen, she said.
There was no immediate comment from Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its territory.
In Taipei, Kuan Biling, head of Taiwan's Ocean Affairs Council, condemned Beijing's actions.
“We believe it has hurt the sentiments of our people and caused panic among the people. That was also not in line with the interests of the people on the other side of the strait,” he told reporters, adding that it was common for Chinese and Taiwanese tourist boats to accidentally enter waters on the other side.
“Vessels like these are not illegal at all,” he said.
Kinmen is located just 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Xiamen in China and has been controlled by Taipei since Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's Communists.
Fishermen from Taiwan and China regularly navigate the stretch of water between Kinmen and mainland China. And on Wednesday, Taiwan said two of the four Chinese fishermen died after their boat capsized while fleeing the Taiwanese Coast Guard.
He said his boat was fishing “within prohibited waters” about a nautical mile (1.8 kilometers) from the Kinmen archipelago.
The other two survivors remain in Taiwanese custody.
China issued furious condemnation and its coast guard said it would step up police patrols in the area.
The patrols are aimed at “further maintaining the order of operations in relevant waters and protecting the safety of fishermen's lives,” Gan Yu, a spokesman for the Chinese Coast Guard, said in a statement on Sunday.
Beijing has also called for the immediate release of detained Chinese nationals.
Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which handles issues relating to Beijing, announced late Monday that the families of the detained Chinese crew members are expected to arrive in Kinmen on Tuesday.
The Straits Exchange Foundation, a Taiwanese semi-official body that deals with technical and trade issues with China, said it “will also send staff to Kinmen to provide humanitarian care to mainland family members… and help them deal with the fallout.” , said. .
The incident has added to the escalation of tensions in the Taiwan Strait.
In recent years, Chinese President Xi Jinping has ramped up rhetoric to unify China and Taiwan, while the Chinese military has increased pressure on the island by deploying fighter jets and warships around it on an almost daily basis.
Taiwan held presidential elections in January, won by Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party, a candidate Beijing considers “separatist.”
