The nation’s national security team is “paying great attention” to the detonation of thousands of pagers targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said, after a Taiwanese firm was linked to the pagers’ production.
Taiwan-based Gold Apollo said it did not manufacture the devices used in the attack, and that they were made by a Budapest-based company that has a license to use its brand.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Koo said that the government was closely watching developments.
Photo: AFP
“After the news came out, my understanding is that at present the relevant national security bodies are paying great attention to this,” he said, without elaborating.
Koo was speaking on Wednesday, in comments embargoed until yesterday.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel, which has not claimed responsibility for the detonations that killed at least nine people.
Israel does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but the two maintain de facto embassies and have close, though unofficial, ties.
The government moved quickly to condemn last year’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian Hamas militants, which triggered the Gaza war, and offered Taiwan’s strong support and sympathy to Israel.
Koo, asked whether Israel had given Taiwan a heads-up about the explosions or whether the two had security or intelligence exchanges, said Taipei did not have that kind of a relationship with the country.
Ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang (孫立方), sitting next to Koo, said the public information from the company was it did not make the pagers.
When it came to international cooperation, Taiwan wanted the sort that helped maintain stability in the Taiwan Strait, he added.
“Not the kind that involves any possible provocative actions outside the region,” Sun said.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said that pagers exported from Taiwan “do not have a problem with exploding.”
National security units are watching online rumors, suspected of originating from abroad, that seek to “maliciously” link the government to the case, Lee added.
“This is not the case. I remind people to beware of fake online information,” she said.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS