National Security Bureau (NSB) Director Tsai Chao-ming (蔡朝明) said yesterday that the SARS virus was part of China’s biochemical warfare program.
“We have information indicating that the SARS virus was a biochemical warfare formula, and United Nations experts had the same intelligence as that obtained by the NSB,” he told the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee.
Tsai made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲).
Meanwhile, Tsai told DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) that the police would provide security for Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) during his visit to Taiwan, not the bureau’s security detail.
Tsai Chao-ming said protests could be expected during Chen’s visit but the bureau was confident that his safety could be ensured.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) asked Tsai Chao-ming if he supported President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) decision to invite Chen to visit Taiwan.
Tsai Chao-ming said the decision was the government’s to make and his bureau was willing to provide the necessary security.
Late last night the bureau issued a statement denying Tsai's remarks on SARS matter. The bureau said Tsai had been misunderstood.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
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