The Executive Yuan yesterday displayed counterfeit-proof consumer vouchers that are modeled after paper money so people can tell if they are real just by looking at them or feeling them.
To make counterfeiting the vouchers more difficult, seven kinds of technology were used in the design, Chao Chung-shing (周中興), chief of the Technical Research and Development Office of the Central Engraving and Printing Plant, told a press conference after the weekly Cabinet meeting.
Chao said people can see gold-to-green color shifts when they rotate the paper and feel the embossed texture when they touch the vouchers because of a letterpress design.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
People will be able tell if a voucher is real by looking for a multi-layer watermark image of a plum blossom and its matched image on the opposite side when light passes through the paper.
Chao said that people can see tiny, hidden tiny characters embedded on the vouchers and different colored fibers when they are held under ultraviolet light.
The consumer vouchers are smaller than paper money, and the design features Yushan, the highest mountain in the country.
Every citizen and foreign spouse qualifying for the voucher will receive six red-colored vouchers with a face value of NT$500 each and three coffee-colored NT$200 vouchers in a “lucky envelope” with “Happy New Year” in Chinese characters on it to symbolize auspiciousness.
The government will distribute the NT$3,600 in consumer vouchers on Jan. 18, one week ahead of the Lunar New Year to boost spending.
Chou said that a voucher would be considered invalid if one-fourth of its area was damaged.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese