The nation’s epidemic response command center has upgraded efforts against the 2019 novel coronavirus by expanding border control measures to include all travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday.
Wuhan residents would be prevented from entering Taiwan, Chen told a news conference in Taipei.
Symptom-free travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau would need to sign a declaration of good health and say whether they were routed through Wuhan, with those making false declarations, a breach of the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法), facing a fine of NT$10,000 to NT$150,000, Chen added.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Chinese tourists who have visited Wuhan in the past 14 days would be reported and hospitalized, or monitored by officials, depending on their status, he said.
The 3,000 to 4,000 people returning from Wuhan over the past two weeks and over the next two weeks are to have their health status surveyed, he said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in a Facebook video reminded people to wash their hands often and take preventative measures on public transportation, saying that the government would be closely monitoring developments.
Photo: CNA
Four airlines with services between Taiwan and Wuhan canceled their flights after Wuhan transportation systems were shut down.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said that China Airlines (中華航空), Mandarin Airlines (華信航空), China Eastern Airlines (中國東方航空) and China Southern Airlines (南方航空) offer 12 flights to Wuhan each week: five from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, two from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) and five from Kaohsiung International Airport.
“Whether or when these flight services will be resumed depends on the situation with the virus,” Wang added.
China Airlines announced that both it and its subsidiary Mandarin Airlines would cancel flights to Wuhan — China Airlines flights (CI541/542) between Taoyuan and Wuhan and Mandarin Airlines flights (AE217/218) between Songshan airport and Wuhan — until the end of next month, as the Chinese airport is closed.
The airline said that it would help passengers scheduled to return to Wuhan during this time to fly to a nearby city.
To comply with government containment policies, both airlines said that flight attendants serving flights to China, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as between Songshan airport and Kinmen and between Taichung and Kinmen — part of the “small three links” — would wear masks and offer them to passengers.
The Tourism Bureau said that local travel agencies have been asked to help Chinese tourists from Wuhan return to China.
A total of 130 tourists from Wuhan were visiting Taiwan, the bureau said on Wednesday, adding that some were scheduled to return yesterday and today.
“Travel agencies must ensure that these tourists do not overstay,” Tourism Bureau Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said.
MILITARY BOOST: The procurement was planned after Washington recommended that Taiwan increase its stock of air defense missiles, a defense official said yesterday Taiwan is planning to order an additional four PAC-3 MSE systems and up to 500 missiles in response to an increasing number of missile sites on China’s east coast, a defense official said yesterday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the proposed order would be placed using the defense procurement special budget, adding that about NT$1 trillion (US$32,88 billion) has been allocated for the budget. The proposed acquisition would include launchers, missiles, and a lower tier air and missile defense radar system, they said The procurement was planned after the US military recommended that Taiwan increase
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
TWO HEAVYWEIGHTS: Trump and Xi respect each other, are in a unique position to do something great, and they want to do that together, the US envoy to China said The administration of US President Donald Trump has told Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) “we don’t want any coercion, but we want [the Taiwan dispute] resolved peacefully,” US ambassador to China David Perdue said in a TV interview on Thursday. Trump “has said very clearly, we are not changing the ‘one China’ policy, we are going to adhere to the Taiwan Relations Act, the three communiques and the ‘six assurances’ that were done under [former US president Ronald] Reagan,” Perdue told Joe Kernen, cohost of CNBC’s Squawk Box. The act, the Three Joint Communiques and the “six assurances” are guidelines for Washington
DEEPENING TIES: The two are boosting cooperation in response to China’s coercive actions and have signed MOUs on search-and-rescue and anti-smuggling efforts Taiwan and Japan are moving to normalize joint coast guard training and considering the inclusion of other allies, the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. Both nations’ coast guards in June sent vessels to the seas south of the Sakishima Islands to conduct joint training, the report said, adding that it was the second joint maritime training exercise since the nations severed formal diplomatic ties in September 1972. Japan dispatched the Nagoya Coast Guard’s Mizuho, a 134m, 6,000-tonne patrol vessel which can carry a helicopter, while the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sent the 126m, 4,000-tonne Yunlin, one of its largest vessels, the report