The Coast Guard Administration says it is planning to discuss holding joint exercises with its Chinese counterparts in 2016, focusing on training and mobilization for rescue operations at sea.
The agency is to table a report to the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee meeting tomorrow, presenting details of its yearly programs and budget items.
The report said the cross-strait joint exercises are needed because of a surge in shipping traffic between Taiwan and China in recent years, with increasing cargo and passenger freighters using direct linking routes.
“We must also take lessons from the South Korean ferry [MV Sewol] disaster in April this year, which led to many lives lost and huge financial losses,” the report said. “The safety of crews and passengers on seafaring vessels is an important task for our units. To maintain marine traffic safety in the Taiwan Strait, both sides must plan for dialogue and communication between the respective coast guard units.”
Therefore, planning is under way for a cross-strait joint simulated sea rescue exercise in 2016, the report said.
The coast guard is also embarking on a new program, at a cost of NT$742.62 million (US$24.4 million), to upgrade and rebuild coastal radar stations that survey the shoreline of Taiwan proper.
Taiwan has 78 of these stations, mainly short-range units covering up to 24 nautical miles (44km) of offshore marine territories, the report said.
However, it added that all but one station were installed between 2001 and 2003, and had aging equipment, maintenance problems and lack of replacement parts from original manufacturers.
The coastal radar system must be revitalized by replacing old stations with new installations, which could take 10 years.
Meanwhile, coast guard units stationed on Kinmen yesterday said their patrol boats chased away a large number of Chinese fishing vessels on Friday, when they intruded into the outlying island’s marine territory.
The coast guard said it confiscated 35 trawler nets during the operation.
However, local news media have accused the coast guard of being negligent in its duty, saying that more than 100 Chinese vessels from Xiamen had stayed around for several days, plying Kinmen waters to catch schools of yellow croaker fish.
A Taiwanese fisherman surnamed Hsu (許) castigated the coast guard for only taking action on Friday.
“It seems that our coast guard units were afraid of the Chinese fishing vessels. If they are scared of confrontation, then we should just cancel the budget for coast guards, because they are a waste of taxpayers’ money,” he said.
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