Taiwan's newly established Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has plans to establish a "three-dimensional" monitoring capability and an island-wide surveillance system as one of its future functions, said the new director Wang Chun (王郡).
"The three-dimensional monitoring capability is to be developed through the build-up of on-the-shore, coastal, ocean-going and air forces. We hope to reach the goals in a given time, but we know that we are still in the infancy stage compared to coast guard forces of advanced countries," Wang said.
Wang said the coast guard also has ambitious plans to have three 5,000-tonne large-sized vessels built. The 5,000-tonne ship will dwarf any warship presently in service in the navy.
So far, the biggest ships operational in the coast guard are eight 1,900-tonne vessels handed over from the customs authorities.
"We have not made a final decision on whether to go ahead with the 5,000-tonne ship building plan. We have to consider many factors, especially the cost," Wang said.
Officials with the CGA said the 5,000-tonne ships would be equipped with helicopters, which would significantly upgrade the search and rescue capability of the coast guard.
The ship building plan is just one part of Wang's project to develop a three-dimensional monitoring system, which could cover areas from the coast to the sea, and from the ground to the air.
Wang said the purpose of the "three dimensional" approach was to carry out missions from the coast to the high seas.
"Our aim is to effectively enforce law within our 200 nautical mile economic zone. We hope to achieve it, though it is not going to be an easy job," Wang said.
In addition to the upgrade in the coast guard's monitoring capability, Wang said another priority was to establish a surveillance network around the island using high-tech equipment as well as personnel networking.
"Taiwan has a coastline of 1,500km. We do not expect our surveillance systems to cover every spot along the coast. We will build it selectively on spots prone to smuggling activities," Wang said.
Officials with the CGA said the surveillance system, comprised of radar, infrared sensors, sonar, as well as image scanning equipment, costs around NT$20 million for every kilometer. The total cost will run as high as NT$160 billion if the system is to comprehensively cover the coastline.
Because of budgetary constraints, Wang said the CGA will look to civilians for assistance in establishing a toll-free hotline to report unusual sightings off or along the coast.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS