Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Chu-lan (
Yeh made the confirmation in the legislature during interpellation by KMT lawmaker Chen Chin-pao (
"Has any of Taiwan's airlines reinstituted the practice of placing security officers aboard aircraft, since there is much information indicating that Taiwan is a possible terrorist target?" Chen asked as he inquired about Taiwan airlines' preparedness in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the US.
Oliver Yu (
"Air marshals are being installed on flights on major international routes but they are probably unnecessary on domestic routes as Taiwan is not directly involved in the war against terrorists," Yu said.
The airlines confirmed air marshals are being deployed only on US- and Canada-bound flights.
Yu said, however, that the CAA has prohibited air marshals from carrying guns. "The officers can only carry stun weapons. As with the debate on flight safety in other countries, the CAA has to take into consideration the possibility that hijackers might rob the air marshals of their guns and that flying bullets can also damage aircraft, endangering flights."
The CAA said that the decision whether to deploy air marshals on flights was a matter purely for the airlines. "It involves budgetary and human resources concerns," Yu said.
Until 1993, the government required airlines to place security officers on flights out of concern that aircraft might be hijacked to China while cross-strait relations remained highly confrontational.
Since Oct. 1, about 90 CAL flight attendants who previously served as air marshals have resumed their former roles, said Paul Wang, the airline's spokesman. They were all members of military or police forces before joining the airline.
Flights carrying air marshals are equipped with the "necessary tools" to fight hijackers, Wang said.
Wang said extending the deployment of air marshals to flights on routes other than those to the US and Canada was currently impossible because of the lack of qualified personnel.
Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維), a spokesman for EVA Airways, confirmed that the airline began the deployment of air marshals on Canada- and US-bound flights in mid-September as a precaution against terrorist attacks.
Like Wang, he said that deploying air marshals on other routes was not possible because of the lack of qualified personnel.
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS