The Ministry of the Interior announced yesterday that it would begin using a biometric identification system at border control points as soon as December to better maintain border security.
“The Executive Yuan has approved the ministry’s plan to use biometric identification technology at border control points and we will start collecting biometric information from visiting foreigners as well as from Taiwanese with no household registration information this year,” Deputy Minister of the Interior Hsiao Chia-chi (蕭家淇) told a press conference.
“This will better maintain border security and the safety of the public,” he added.
Hsiao said the ministry has spent NT$180 million (US$6 million) developing the system, and that it plans to first use it at Kaohsiung International Airport in December.
“If everything works well, we will then set up the system at entry points in airports and harbors across the nation,” Hsiao added.
He explained that, at entry, a foreigner or a Taiwanese without a household registration would be required to provide fingerprints and have his or her facial features recorded. When the visitor leaves, the system would automatically check that it is the same person.
“Plastic surgery can change the way a person looks, but it cannot change biological features, such as the distance between the two pupils,” he said. “If the system fails to identify the person by comparing facial features, we would then check their fingerprints.”
Meanwhile, Hsiao said that the ministry has sent draft amendments to the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法) that would relax some immigration restrictions to the legislature for review.
“If passed [by the legislature], white-collar foreign workers with Alien Permanent Resident Certificates would be allowed to leave the country for up to five years before their certificate becomes void,” he said.
EXPANSIONIST: China deploys an average of 40 to 50 warships and coast guard vessels daily in the South China Sea, despite pledges not to militarize the region, an official said China is attempting to expand its influence across the First Island Chain and increase pressure on Japan by sending coast guard vessels into waters off of Taiwan under the pretext of maritime negotiations with Japan and the Philippines, a national security official said yesterday. China’s recent actions in the waters east of Taiwan and Japan and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ) are attempts to establish dominance in First Island Chain waters, said the official who declined to be named, adding that this is “expansion disguised as law enforcement.” Framing China’s actions solely as a cross-strait issue is a serious misjudgment that
Through analyzing fossil evidence, a research team at National Taiwan University (NTU) discovered the largest endemic bird to have lived in Taiwan, naming it Pavo miejue, or extinct peafowl (滅絕孔雀). The Mikado pheasant, which is printed on the back of the NT$1,000 bank note, was previously believed to be the biggest endemic bird to Taiwan. The research team’s findings suggest that Pavo miejue lived during the Pleistocene epoch tens of thousands of years ago. It is the first endemic extinct bird species discovered and formally named in Taiwan. The study was coauthored by NTU Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修),
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to suspend its automated Skytrain service connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 starting on July 1 to facilitate connection works for the upcoming Terminal 3, the airport operator said today. Passengers and staff who need to travel between the two terminals after the suspension can instead use the Taoyuan MRT or the airport's 24-hour shuttle bus service, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. The Taoyuan MRT Airport Line directly links the two terminals, while the shuttle buses are to operate around the clock, the company added. The Skytrain provides free transportation between the airport’s two terminals for travelers and
Taiwan ranked 42nd in terms of peacefulness among 163 countries, down five places from last year, according to this year’s Global Peace Index. With an overall score of 1.751, Taiwan dropped from 37th last year, the report published by the global Institute for Economics and Peace showed. The overall score measures a country’s level of peacefulness using 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators across three domains — ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. While Taiwan ranked 42nd worldwide, it was listed in ninth place among the 19 Asian-Pacific countries in the report, after New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
RSS