Lawmakers yesterday urged government agencies to make full use of technology to enhance the system used to find missing children, noting the large number of minors that have been reported missing in recent years.
The number of missing minors hovers at about 10,000 per year, People First Party Legislator Thomas Lee (李桐豪) said in the legislature, citing data from the National Police Agency (NPA).
“When looking for missing children or youngsters, related agencies should start with the media frequently used by them,” Lee said, adding that Facebook and smartphone apps were two examples of popular media used by the nation’s youth.
“Every possible means should be employed to help track down missing children,” Lee said.
Chen Kun-huang (陳坤皇), the secretary-general of the Ministry of the Interior’s Child Welfare Bureau, said that the bureau and the Child Welfare League Foundation have worked together for years to distribute posters of missing children and youngsters.
He said the public can call a special hotline on 0800-049-880 or check the bureau’s Web site to help search for missing children.
“However, we will enhance our efforts to look for missing children, taking into account the suggestion of Legislator Lee,” Chen said.
Chen said that most missing minors aged between 12 and 17 leave home on their own initiative, usually because they felt they had done something wrong, their parents were too strict or they had been influenced by their friends.
Hsieh Chen-cheng (謝振成), a section chief at the NPA, said statistics showed that 90 percent of cases of missing children between 2008 and last year had been solved, with the remaining 10 percent of unsolved cases showing that greater efforts needed to be made by the related agencies.
In addition, Lee urged police to do more to prevent youth crime, saying the number of crimes being committed by children and youngsters has increased significantly over the past few years.
Liu Po-liang (劉柏良), deputy director of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, said that last year, police stepped up efforts to crack down on crime on school campuses.
Police officers found that the number of incidents of bullying had increased in schools, as well as cases of joyriding and drug use, Liu said.
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