The government is keeping track of possible entry into the country by individuals suspected of involvement in international terrorism and is planning to set up biometric identification systems to strengthen security at its borders, National Immigration Agency Director-General Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) said yesterday.
Hsieh made the remarks while fielding questions from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee at the legislature in Taipei.
The agency has access to a list of suspected terrorists and maintains regular contacts with its counterparts in other countries, Hsieh said.
Hsieh said that a biometric identification system for foreigners would be installed at Kaohsiung International Airport in December in a pilot project for a plan to have the facility set up in all airports in the country. The agency has asked for NT$180 million (US$6 million) for the project, he said.
Since March 2011, the e-Gate system, which utilizes biometric identification technology to identify people through fingerprints and facial features, has been operating in several major airports. The system applies only to Republic of China passports holders and those holding permanent residence permits.
Separately, National Security Bureau Deputy Director-General Wang Teh-lin (王德麟) said the Presidential Office is capable of intercepting any letter containing toxic substances that is addressed to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Wang made the remarks following reports that letters addressed to US President Barack Obama and other US officials have recently tested positive for the poison ricin.
Wang said the Presidential Office has a unit charged with handling such matters.
“All correspondence to the Presidential Office has to pass security tests in accordance with the regulations,” Wang said in response to media queries before attending a meeting of the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee meeting at the legislature discussing strengthening anti-terrorism measures.
The bureau added that the government, in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing on Monday, would step up its counterterrorism measures for the 2017 Universiade in Taipei.
Saying that international sports events and activities are easy targets for terrorists, Wang added the bureau would work closely with the Cabinet and the Taipei City Government to tighten security for the Universiade and ensure that the event proceeds safely and peacefully.
So far, the bureau has not detected any recruitment activities in Taiwan involving foreign extremist organizations, nor are there cases in which Taiwanese have received terrorist training.
However, there have been several terror hoaxes, including a 2011 e-mail threat, claiming to be from the US white supremacist group Aryan Nations, to carry out a chemical attack on Taipei 101, Wang said.
The failed explosive devices placed on a high-speed train and outside a legislator’s office on Friday last week are not considered attempts at terrorism, given that the suspects did not have any contact with or received training from any extremist organization, he said.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Chwen-jinq (陳純敬), in response to criticism that the evacuation of the train on Friday was too slow, said the ministry would review evacuation measures for the nation’s railway systems and submit a report on the matter within a month.
Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) added that his ministry would draft a counterterrorism law within three months.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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