A ruling DPP lawmaker yesterday warned that some travelers coming from China were changing their itineraries and rerouting their flights so they could evade the mandatory 10-day quarantine -- a preventive measure put in place by the government to combat severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
"Instead of a stopover at Hong Kong, some passengers from China have been found changing their flight plans and making a transit stop in Japan. The change is made to avoid a 10-day compulsory quarantine policy declared last month for travelers returning from infected areas of China and Hong Kong," said Tang Bi-a (
Tang added that these people are also purposely omitting their travel record in China or Hong Kong in the required investigation forms.
"They successfully escape the quarantine measure by flying home via Japan. The false travel record reports worsen the real effect of the quarantine policy that was set up for an all-out containment of the emerging epidemic," Tang said.
Tang said she became aware of the the problem after receiving a number of complaints from her constituents.
Compared to the usual itinerary plan via Hong Kong, Tang said the alternative stopover in Japan was even more economical as passengers would save around NT$4,000 for ticket fare.
"The cheaper flights enable people to avoid the forced quarantine, and this engenders a big risk to the government's effort to battle the epidemic," she said.
According to Tang, SARS prevention measures conducted by Japanese authorities achieves little in assessing if travelers coming to Taiwan have the disease.
"The Japanese authorities merely ask travelers from high-risk infected areas to fill out health forms and get their temperature checked," Tang said.
The brief inquiry conducted at airports doesn't help since SARS has been found to have a maximum 14-day incubation period before the infected fall ill.
Tang urged the public to realize that every member of society shares a responsibility to ensure that the efforts against the disease are successful.
In addition, she called on authorities to carry out a thorough check on official seals stamped on individual passengers' passports to make sure that those who have been to China and other infected areas honestly report their travel record.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai