The National Security Bureau will not allow the release of large balloons during Double Ten National Day celebrations next week because they could threaten the security of participants.
Officials of the bureau said that the balloons could pose a threat to fighter aircraft that are scheduled to pass over the Presidential Office in formation, and to elite parachutists who will attempt to glide down Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office.
AVOIDING DISRUPTION
The officials said that the bureau had worked with the organizing committee for the Double Ten festivities to liaise with civic groups in order to avoid disruptions.
Information has been received suggesting that some people could release balloons to publicize political causes, and officials warned protesters not to do so.
They said the measures would ensure the safety of participants and their equipment and that the rally would proceed smoothly.
ALLEGATIONS
Last year, supporters of a campaign targeting President Chen Shui-bian (
The donation of offshore patrol vessel Kinmen to the Philippines includes provisions that protect Taiwanese fishers and facilitate security cooperation across the First Island Chain, officials said yesterday. The comment was made during the Cabinet’s comprehensive administrative report at the legislature after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) expressed concerns about the decision to give a ship to a country whose coast guard had in 2013 fired on a Taiwanese trawler and killed its captain without provocation. The Cabinet should lay out the safeguards that have been established to prevent the Philippine government from using the Kinmen to harass, expel
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