The capture of the tanker Tuapse occurred on 23 June 1954, when a civilian Soviet ship was captured and confiscated by the Republic of China Navy in the high seas near the Philippines and the sailors were detained in Taiwan for various periods with three deaths, until the last four were released in 1988. Background On 18 June 1949 during the Chinese Civil War, the Government of the Republic of China (ROC) declared the Closed Port Policy to establish an actual aerial and naval blockade of trade with the People's Republic of China (PRC) along the Chinese coast from Liao River to Min River area, which was extended to include Guangdong on 12 February 1950. The Executive Yuan issued an emergency measure applying to domestic vessels, crews and companies to strengthen the trade ban on China on 16 August 1950, however the Kuomintang government extended the practice to foreign vessels and even in international waters against the international law of the sea and admiralty law.
The New York Times reported that 67 foreign civilian ships were attacked by local pirates between September 1949 and October 1954, as half of them were British vessels, whereas actually 141 interference incidents were reported by the Royal Navy in the routine "Formosa Strait Patrol" operations since October 31, 1949, and recorded in 37 British diplomatic protestation documents, with each containing multiple protests up to seven attacks, showing the anti-British atmosphere within the ROC and the KMT high-rank circle, even on the armed intervention of the Royal Navy escorting the British vessels from ROCN warships. The Western Enterprise Incorporated (WEI), supported by the Office of Policy Coordination of the Central Intelligence Agency, assisted in the operations.
On 13 February 1951, a fleet of 3 ROCS destroyers under the direct orders of ROC President Chiang Kai-shek captured the Norwegian civilian cargo ship Hoi Houw at 24°13'N 123°18'E within Japanese waters among the Yaeyama Islands. On 17–19 February, the British civilian mercantile Nigelock (former HMS Nigella K19, Flower-class corvette), full of fruits and vegetables, and the freighter Josephine Moller were attacked by (ACNSA, under the command of General Hu Zongnan) gunboats near the Chekiang coast in the East China Sea, but both escaped. On 15 April 1951, the Panamanian civilian cargo ship Perico was captured by the ROC Navy at 25°31'N 123°48'E, north of Taketomi Island. By 7 December 1952, Captain Robert Adam was also killed by machine gun without warning even though his British freighter Rosita had cooperated in the full stop off the Fuzhou sea lane; then Rosita was hijacked and sailed to Matsu before being released. Nonetheless, she was attacked again next year, marking her thirteenth time since 1950.
Nevertheless, the piracy activities of attack, killing and confiscation reported in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, British Hong Kong and Australian media coverages intensified in the summer of 1953 after Joseph Stalin's death and the Korean Armistice Agreement. On 26 July, the British freighter Inchkilda (former SS Fort Wilhelmus N3-S-A2) was attacked by 3 ROC-ACNSA gunboats south of the Wuqiu region, and was rescued by HMS Unicorn (I72, light aircraft carrier) after receiving the distress call; then Inchkilda was seized by the ROC Navy again on 24 October 1954, but received British and American diplomatic support to be released. On 16 August 1953, Nigelock was captured by the ROC Navy toward the Magong military port in Penghu, but was rescued by HMS St Brides Bay (K600, Bay-class frigate); it was intercepted again by ROCS Huangpu PC-105 (PC-461-class submarine chaser) and was rescued by the destroyer HMS Cockade (R34) on 24 August. The Italian civilian freighter Maribu was also attacked by gunboats on 31 July 1953, and the Danish civilian freighter Heinrich Jessen on 9 August - both were hijacked first to the Kinmen sea area to shift members, then formally confiscated in Keelung. At 18:00, 4 October, 2 ROCS destroyers captured the Polish civilian oil tanker Praca with 9,019 tons of cargo at 21°06'N 122°48'E in the West Pacific Ocean, 125 nautical miles southeast of Taiwan. 29 Polish sailors and 17 Chinese sailors from the PRC were transferred to a military detention center in Zuoying.
In early April 1954, the ROC Air Force and Navy conducted a carpet search for the Czechoslovak civilian cargo ship Julius Fucik, but failed to catch her in the Yaeyama sea area of the Pacific Ocean. At 14:20, 12 May, another Polish civilian cargo ship, the Prezydent Gottwald, carrying 7,066 tons of lathes and medicines, was shelled by a fleet of 3 ROCS destroyers, at 20°30'N, 128°07'E, east of Batanes Islands and south of Okinawa Island. It was then attacked again at 15:20 and captured at 23°45'N 128°35'E. 33 Polish sailors and 12 Chinese sailors from the PRC were first detained in Keelung, then transferred to Zuoying together. The victim sailors' families of both Polish ships appealed to the United Nations Economic and Social Council Session 18 on ROC's piracy conducts on high sea obstructing international trade and cooperation.
The tanker Praca was renamed ROCS Helan (AOG-305, ) and the transport Prezydent Gottwald was renamed ROCS Tianzhu (AK-313, ), and both were commissioned into the ROC Navy. 61 out of 62 Polish sailors were released through Polish and United States diplomatic intervention, while one was found dead in a park with signs of torture, while the 29 Chinese sailors were imprisoned in the Green Island Prison. 11 were rescued by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1956, 3 staff leaders were executed, 1 died in prison, and 5 died due to sickness or accidents. Eventually 5 survivors were released and returned to the PRC after martial law was lifted in 1987, and 4 chose to stay in Taiwan.
Capture The Soviet tanker Tuapse, with 49 crew members, sailed from Odessa in May 1954. She was loaded with 11,702 tons of aviation fuel in Constanța on the Black Sea, destined for the Peoples Liberation Army airforce in Shanghai in defiance of a UN sanctioned collective trade embargo against China. On 23 June 1954 she passed through the international seaway of Balintang Channel in Bashi Straits, eastbound toward the west Pacific Ocean.
The Tuapse was intercepted at north of Luzon Island by a ROC taskforce led by Admiral Ma Ji-zhuang (), Commander-in-Chief of the ROC Navy, on the flagship Tan Yang DD-12 (formerly Japanese Imperial Navy Yukikaze, transferred to ROCS after WWII), with an order from President Chiang Kai-shek to sink the target if encountering resistance. When Captain Vitaly Kalinin refused to stop the tanker, three rounds of 127 mm naval DP gun shots were fired near the bow to force a full stop. An assault team led by Captain Chiu Zhong-ming, with over 100 seamen and marines, boarded and seized the ship. Captain Kalinin was informed that the boat had been seized for allegedly entering Taiwinese territorial waters, which the Captain (correctly) refuted. Admiral Ma then boarded and took command of the Tuapse. Two engineers attempting to perform the mechanical self-destruction sequence were attacked by ROC seamen who broke into the engineering room. The radio operator of the Tuapse was able to send a message to Moscow and the home port Odessa stating they had been captured.
The ship was towed to the Port of Kaohsiung for intelligence examination. Samples of the oil cargo were collected for chemical analysis in Okinawa, and the oil was pumped into military storage tanks. The crew, including the only female crew, bartender Olga Popov, were divided in 3 groups roughly by age to be transported to different locations for interrogation with no cross contact allowed between them. Captain Vitaly A. Kalinin was denied permission to visit the other groups. ROC military later claimed that such isolation measures were required for "humanitarian" purposes as the captain was allegedly ordering the crew to participate in hunger strikes.
Tuapse final distress signal before the radio station was silenced and smashed was transmitted through Vladivostok to Moscow and Odessa. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of USSR, V.A. Zorin, summoned the Ambassador of USA, Charles Bohlen in Moscow on 24 June 1954 to deliver a strong protest; the ROC Government admitted to the operation on 25 June. The Black Sea Shipping Company continued to distribute the victims' wages to their families throughout the following years.
British, Danish, Polish, Soviet and other victim states' representatives to the United Nations denounced the piracy conducts and "violation of freedom of navigation" in the General Assembly Session 9 on 30 September, but unable to pass a concrete agreement till December. Polish and Soviet appeals to the International Court and the International Law Commission (Session 9, 1957) did not succeed because ROC being a permanent member state of the UN Security Council could not fit in the traditional non-state "pirate" definition. A Soviet task force of a destroyer and a frigate arrived offshore of Keelung Naval Base in early July, and the governments of Australia and New Zealand also expressed the concerns on ROC's actions providing the USSR a pretext to strengthen its naval presence in the western Pacific Ocean. U.S. Ambassador Karl L. Rankin in Taipei officially urged the release of ship and crew on 9 July, and visited the ROC Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Yeh, in sick leave at home over night; Head of the Office of Chinese Affairs in USDOS, Walter P. McConaughy also talked with ROC Ambassador Wellington Koo on 16 July, whereas the Ambassador of the United States to the United Nations, Henry Lodge later also recalled in the letter to Secretary of State Dulles that President Dwight Eisenhower wrote several letters to Chiang to appeal for returning the tanker, but none of them could change Chiang's mind. Chiang Ching-kuo, the Director of Political Warfare Bureau, attempted to induce the statements of sailors to demand political asylum to score a propaganda victory. The First Lady, Soong Mei-ling led the representatives of Chinese Women's Anti-Communist and Anti-Russian League () to the persuasion visit. They were invited to a party in the Seven Seas Residence, rowing boats in the Bitan Lake, then the bar visits at nights, and the ladies were also offered along with videotaping for the propaganda record.
A declassified CIA briefing to the White House and United States National Security Council revealed that the shipping insurance premium crossing the South China Sea had increased from 1% to 5% since 24 June after the Tuapse Incident, and certain international liners had been deterred midway at the Singapore Port unable to continue or had to change plans. The PLA Air Force moved in the Hainan Island for the first time in history to secure another transport route through Yulin and Huangpu ports, but accidentally shot down a Douglas DC-4 (VR-HEU) airliner of the Cathay Pacific Airways with 10 deaths on 23 July. Two U.S. aircraft carriers, USS Hornet and USS Philippine Sea (CV-47) arrived for a rescue mission on 26 July and shot down 2 PLAAF Lavochkin La-11 fighters east of Dazhou Island. On 2 August, Commander of PLA in CMC, Peng Dehuai convened an executive meeting to establish the tactical command for the East China Military Region as per Mao Zedong's directive to open another front.