Tue, Mar 29, 2016 page1

• NSB aims to outlaw terror groups

  BLACKLISTED: Officials said 35 people labeled foreign terrorists or on a watch list were denied entry when attempting to enter or transit through Taiwan last year

  • By Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter
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  Following a number of recent terrorist attacks worldwide, the National Security Bureau (NSB) yesterday pledged to enact legislation to prohibit Taiwanese from joining terrorist groups.

  At a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee yesterday, several officials from the bureau, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense and other government agencies were invited to answer questions on the nation’s prevention of and response to terrorist threats and attacks.

  The meeting was held following suicide bombings at Brussels Airport and at a metro station in the Belgian capital on Tuesday last week, which killed at least 31 people and wounded hundreds.

  

  National Security Bureau Director-General Yang Kuo-chiang, right, and Office of National Security Director Shih Tseng-kang answer questions yesterday at the legislature in Taipei.

  Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

  In response to questions from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), Investigation Bureau Deputy Director-General Lee Chang-ming (李長明) said it is not illegal for Taiwanese to join the Islamic State, because no law forbids them from doing so.

  Asked whether there are any Taiwanese who have joined the Islamic State or other extremist groups, Lee said the Investigation Bureau has not received any intelligence indicating that this has happened.

  “At the moment, we do not have the legal tools to prevent Taiwanese from signing up with terrorist organizations, but we will enact a law to prohibit that,” NSB Director-General Yang Kuo-chiang (楊國強) said.

  Yang said the NSB had tried in vain to push for such legislation before, but promised to continue its efforts in the current legislative session.

  Chiang then drew attention to recent warnings by Indonesian Bureau for the Placement and Protection of Foreign Workers head Nusron Wahid, who said Indonesian workers in democratic nations in the Asia-Pacific region could be recruitment targets for the Islamic State.

  Wahid on March 20 said that, to his knowledge, two Indonesian workers in South Korea have joined the Islamic State group and that some Indonesian workers in Taiwan and Hong Kong have been seen wearing badges or other symbols of the Islamic State.

  “We do not have concrete information on what the so-called Islamic State badges are, but we have been gathering intelligence on this matter,” Yang said.

  However, when pressed by KMT Legislator Lu Yu-ling (呂玉玲) on the matter, Yang said intelligence agencies have listed eight Taiwanese as suspicious due to the messages they have left on Islamic State-related Web sites.

  Lu then asked Yang to rate the chance of Taiwan being the target of terrorist attacks on a scale of one to 10, to which Yang said: “I cannot provide a rating on this matter, because all it takes is one attack to put the score to zero.”

  Yang also acknowledged that the NSB has compiled an ever-updating list of 35 suspected international terrorists and that it has been exchanging intelligence with several countries, including the US, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and members of the EU.

  Nevertheless, Taiwan is not facing an imminent terrorist threat, as evidenced by the nation’s ranking of 113 in the Institute for Economics and Peace’s Global Terrorism Index last year, Yang said.

  Meanwhile, NSB Deputy Director Wang Te-lin (王德麟) said a total of 35 people labeled as foreign terrorists or on the terrorism blacklist attempted to enter or make transit stops in Taiwan last year.

  The NSB had full knowledge of who these suspected terrorists planned to meet once they entered Taiwan, Wang said.

  “All of them were denied entry into the nation,” National Immigration Agency Deputy Director-General Chang Chi (張琪) said.
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