AVIATION
Police stop Thai tourist
Police at the Taoyuan Taiwan International Airport yesterday caught a Thai tourist trying to transport six gas canisters with a total capacity of 2.46 liters. The Aviation Police Bureau said that the female tourist, who was scheduled to board a China Airlines flight from Taoyuan to Bangkok, was found to have six gas canisters in her checked luggage. She was instructed to ditch the forbidden items before being allowed to leave Taiwan. Police said that it is illegal to carry gas canisters on board flights because of safety regulations. The International Civil Aviation Organization classifies dangerous goods in nine categories, and gas items belong in category two.
WEATHER
Temperatures set to drop
Temperatures are expected to drop today because of the arrival of a cold air mass, with northern regions likely to experience a low of 13oC, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. Central and southern regions could see temperatures drop to 15oC and 17oC respectively, the CWB added. While daytime highs are not expected to exceed 20oC in northern regions in the coming days, central and southern regions can expect maximum temperatures of between 24oC and 27oC, with conditions expected to bring cloudy skies and occasional sunny spells. The colder weather is not expected to ease up until Saturday, when highs are forecast to increase by 4oC nationwide, the CWB said. The weather is expected to be at its coldest later today and early tomorrow, the CWB said. Residents in central and southern regions should be wary of temperature fluctuations of up to a maximum of 10oC between highs and lows, the CWB added.
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