The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday used the occasion of its second anniversary celebration to publicize some of the law-enforcement and maritime search-and-rescue achievements it is most proud of.
The CGA, inaugurated on Jan. 28, 2000, said one of its most remarkable accomplishments over the past two years has been the discovery and seizure of NT$11.8 billion worth of smuggled goods, including cigarettes, liquor and oil, as well as agricultural and fishery products.
CGA Director Wang Chun (王郡) said another major accomplishment of the administration has been search-and-rescue missions for around 1,600 people reported missing or stranded in shipwrecks or sea disasters.
"This achievement is indeed something to be proud of. Unfortunately, we were unable to save all those we intended to. There is still much room for improvement. We have yet to upgrade our equipment," Wang said.
President Chen Shui-bian (
With the agency's current equipment, mainly ships, President Chen said the CGA is unable to "have all of Taiwan's territorial waters" under its control.
The president said he expected the CGA to develop "three-dimensional operational capabilities" to make up for its deficiency in surface vessels.
Chen made the remarks in a speech he delivered to the CGA leadership and its staff at the Taipei headquarters of the administration. The three-dimensional operation capabilities Chen mentioned refer mainly to an air arm that the CGA is to bring into service.
The air arm will become operational on Friday, Wang said.
It is basically a fleet of helicopters with search-and-rescue capabilities.
Because of budgetary constraints, the CGA will not own the helicopters. They will be chartered from a civil aviation company on a pay-per-flight basis.
The CGA declined to reveal any further details of the helicopter fleet, such as the number of aircraft involved.
Besides the soon-to-be-established air arm, Wang also announced that the administration will increase the number of fixed coastal radar sites from 45 to 78 over the next few years.
The new radar sites will be built by local firms that won the bidding for the project in December.
The new radar sites will be linked to satellites, an official with the CGA said. It is not known which country the satellites belong to.
The CGA was founded in February 2000 and combined the coast guard command of the military, the marine police under the National Police Administration and certain portions of the customs office under the Ministry of Finance.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
RSS