The head of a Taiwanese sea search-and-rescue group has called on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to work together on maritime emergencies.

Yin Liu-sheng, secretary general of the Taiwan-based volunteer group Chinese Search and Rescue Association, said in Xiamen, Fujian province, on Sunday that “maritime search and rescue should remain completely above politics” and that Beijing and Taipei should cooperate “to ensure the safety of life and property of vessels navigating the Taiwan Strait”.

“Maritime search-and-rescue operations are time-critical, and both sides should ensure that rescue hotlines remain open at all times, allowing timely communication on maritime emergencies in the Taiwan Strait,” Yin said at an event organised as part of the Straits Forum.

The Taiwan Strait is one of the world’s busiest waterways for both commercial shipping and fishing, and the tough weather and sea conditions have made the strait a high-risk zone for accidents.

Maritime search and rescue had been an area of sustained cooperation between Beijing and Taipei but joint drills stopped in 2016, when the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party took power.

Beijing and Taipei conducted joint search-and-rescue exercises three times between 2010 and 2014 in waters near mainland cities and Taiwan’s outlying islands under a sea transport agreement signed in 2008, which included the “establishment of a search-and-rescue coordination mechanism”.