The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) declined to comment yesterday on a case involving a US citizen who was caught with a handgun in her check-in luggage at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport as she was leaving for the US.
Asked about the incident, Sheila Paskman, the AIT’s chief of public diplomacy, said she could not discuss cases involving US citizens without their permission because of US privacy laws. The AIT represents US interests in Taiwan in the absence of official relations between the two countries.
The US citizen of Taiwanese descent, surnamed Liang (梁), was arriving at Taoyuan airport with her son and daughter on Saturday when a .22 caliber handgun, its magazine and seven bullets were discovered in one of their checked-in suitcases.
Liang was handed over to the Taoyuan Prosecutors’ Office for violating the Criminal Code and the Act Governing the Control of Guns, Ammunition and Knives (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例).
Her 14-year-old daughter was sent to a juvenile court because the weapon was found in her suitcase, aviation police said.
The gun was legally registered in the US by Liang’s husband, a Chinese-American, airport police said.
Liang contended that her husband had forgotten he had left the gun in the suitcase and that she and her children were unaware of the items in the bag.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Steve Shia (夏季昌) said the ministry had not received any inquiries about the case from US officials.
Liang, 45, and her children transferred through John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Osaka, Japan, before arriving in Taiwan for a family visit, the aviation police said.
None of the customs officials in the three countries noticed the firearm, despite passing the luggage through X-ray machines, they said.
The aviation police said they would tighten security checks in the future.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai