President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been informed of the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and government agencies will deal with the consequences of this development, the Presidential Office said in a statement yesterday.
All security-related government agencies will closely monitor related developments and respond to any security concerns, it said.
The National Immigration Agency said it had asked its 28 overseas offices to step up the collection and exchange of anti-terrorism information and share it with related government agencies.
In addition, the agency will pass on information to other countries if individuals considered to be “suspicious” make transit stops in Taiwan, the agency said.
The move followed a heightened alert worldwide to the possibility of terrorist attacks to avenge bin Laden’s death.
The agency said immigration checks of arriving passengers at airports would be as strict as in the past, but even more important would be to “stop terrorism outside the country’s borders.”
Agency officials said the most common problems faced by anti-terrorism security checks were suspects carrying multiple passports and agents having out-of-date photographs of potential suspects that are hard to match against those in travelers’ documents.
In such cases, the agency would have to rely on information collected overseas, the agency said.
The number of US-bound passengers who are subject to -additional pre-flight security screening has also been doubled, an aviation security official said.
The random check ratio was doubled to 6 percent of passengers, the Aviation Police Office’s Security Inspection Brigade said.
Also reacting to reports of bin Laden’s death, the American Institute in Taiwan relayed a message from the US Department of State warning US citizens traveling and residing abroad about the increased potential for anti-US violence.
Overseas Americans are urged to limit their travel outside of their homes and hotels, and to avoid mass gatherings and demonstrations.
The office did not provide any information about its security measures or whether its visa screening process would be tightened.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique