Last July, five young men boarded a recreational boat in a remote harbor in Hong Kong. They passed through waters patrolled by Chinese authorities and headed east, across the South China Sea.
When they neared Taiwan, they cut off their motor, hoping to be rescued by the Taiwanese Coast Guard. They were in luck.
Now, after months in Taiwan, they intend to seek asylum in the United States, where they arrived at Kennedy International Airport in New York on Wednesday.