CRIME
Customs seizes cigarettes
Kaohsiung Customs yesterday seized 1.35 million packs of cigarettes worth an estimated NT$60 million (US$2.03 million) that were being smuggled into the nation. Customs officials tracked three containers that arrived from Vietnam and were to be re-exported to the Philippines, Kaohsiung Customs Director Chen Shan-ju (陳善助) said. After locating them in the port, officials inspected the containers and found the cigarettes, he said, adding that they arrived with documents identifying their contents as textiles. The cigarettes have been seized in accordance with the Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act (菸酒管理法) and the Customs Anti-Smuggling Act (海關緝私條例), Chen said, adding that police are investigating the people involved.
WEATHER
Temperatures to fall again
Temperatures across the nation continued to rise yesterday with the weakening of a continental cold air mass, the Central Weather Bureau said. Continuing Monday’s trend, daytime temperatures yesterday rose to between 22°C and 24°C in the north, between 25°C and 26°C in central and southern Taiwan, and 20°C and 23°C in the east, bureau forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said. Meanwhile, a tropical depression near the Philippines could develop into this year’s first tropical storm as early as last night, he said. Although the potential storm, named Bolaven, should not directly affect Taiwan as it moves toward the South China Sea, it could bring moisture to the nation tomorrow, the bureau said. Northeasterly winds tomorrow are also expected to bring wet, chilly weather to the nation, with lows of 16°C expected in northern Taiwan.
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