■ Crime
Officials grab illicit smokes
Coast guard officers seized a large haul of untaxed foreign cigarettes worth around NT$4 million (US$120,845) in waters off Ilan, northeastern Taiwan, early yesterday. Tipped off recently that a smuggling ring would use a fishing vessel and a sampan to try to smuggle untaxed foreign cigarettes into Taiwan, coast guard officers were put on alert. At around 3am yesterday, they spotted a fishing vessel and a sampan loading and unloading goods and ordered them to stop for an inspection. After the cigarettes were found on the two vessels, the fishing ship's captain, surnamed Lin, and the six crew members were all taken back to Suao for further questioning. The seven men were later turned over to the Ilan District Court on charges of violating Taiwan's tobacco and wine regulations.
■ IPR Protection
Swiss laud CIB, CIB says
Taiwan's all-out campaign against commercial piracy and intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement has received increasing world recognition, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) under the National Police Administration (NPA) said yesterday. CIB Deputy Director Wang Wen-chung (王文忠) made the remarks after meeting with a senior executive from the Federation of Swiss Watch Industry (FSWI) earlier in the day. Thierry Dubois, FSWI's Far East manager, paid a courtesy call at the CIB to express his organization's gratitude for Taiwan's efforts in IPR protection and cracking down on commercial piracy. Dubois was quoted as having told Wang that Taiwan has set an example worthy of emulation by other countries in preventing commercial counterfeiting. According to Wang, the NPA has stepped up commercial piracy investigations since 1999 by setting up special operation forces in the northern, central and southern parts of the island. In January last year, the NPA further formed an IPR police corps to intensify probes into IPR infringe-ments. Wang said the amount of seized pirated products last year increased by NT$2.61 billion from the year-earlier level.
■ Diplomacy
MOFA calls Hu's trip trivial
Chinese President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) recent three-leg African visit did not have any impact on Taiwan's relations with African countries, a senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday. Chang Pei-chi (張北齊), director of the foreign ministry's African Affairs Department, said at a regular news conference that Hu's visits to Egypt, Gabon and Algeria were mainly aimed at discussing possible cooperative projects in oil exploration. "Hu's African tour has not caused any adverse impact on our relations with African countries that either diplomatically recognize the Taiwan or China," Chang said.
■ Education
Schools offered salmon tour
King Car Education Foundation will sponsor an educational tour for elementary-school students on the ecology of Formosan landlocked salmon on March 29 and March 30 at Wuling Farm in Taichung County. The children will get a first-hand look at the breeding process and the ecological environment for this fish, which is considered a national treasure and an endangered species. More than 3,000 of the salmon have been breed over the past two years. During the tour, the children will also learn about environmental preservation. Elementary schools interested in signing up for the tour can contact the foundation at (02) 2368-0273, ex 111.
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
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
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard