The Ministry of Justice has drafted an amendment to the Counter-Terrorism Financing Act (資恐防制法) that would list threats and aggressive behavior toward critical national infrastructure, major facilities or core systems as acts of terrorism.
The ministry yesterday said the current law is inapplicable to certain proliferation financing cases in Taiwan.
It made major amendments to the act, expanding it from 15 articles to 24 articles, the ministry said.
Photo courtesy of Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan
A definition for terrorism financing and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction was added to the drafted amendment, it said.
Terrorism financing is defined as providing property, property interests or financial services to people who engage in terrorist activities.
Terrorist activities are defined as intent to cause loss of life, severe injuries, or significant economic or property damage, and threatening the public, or coercing government agencies, foreign government agencies or intergovernmental organizations.
The ministry said threats and aggressive behavior toward critical national infrastructure, major facilities or core systems might cause great damage, and affect national and social security.
Therefore, it has included threats to the public and coercion to government agencies, foreign government agencies or intergovernmental organizations into the list of terrorists activities, it said.
It means that contravening the Electricity Act (電業法), Natural Gas Enterprise Act (天然氣事業法), Petroleum Administration Act (石油管理法), Water Supply Act (自來水法), Railway Act (鐵路法) and Mass Rapid Transit Act (大眾捷運法) might be treated as terrorist activities, the ministry said.
According to the drafted amendment, perpetrators who directly or indirectly collect or provide property or property interests for an individual, a legal person or a group engaged in terrorist activities could face imprisonment of six months to five years and a fine of no more than NT$5 million (US$155,904).
In addition, as petroleum smuggling activities from Taiwan to North Korea have been detected several times in the past few years, the drafted amendment also imposes punishment on perpetrators who conceal trading information, turn off their vessel’s automatic identification system without reason, or damage, alter or hide their vessel name.
Perpetrators could face up to three years of imprisonment or detention or a penalty of no more than NT$600,000, according to the draft amendment.
Taiwanese who contravene this article outside of the nation’s territory could also face punishment, no matter whether the country where the crime takes place has such laws, the draft said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS