National security authorities have initiated investigations into whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is behind a spate of illegal entries by Chinese boats and alleged cases of Chinese livestreaming students’ activities around schools in Taiwan, a source said on Sunday.
Two Chinese — a father and son — on May 16 used a rubber dinghy to illegally arrive at Taoyuan’s Guanyin Beach (觀音海水浴場). They were arrested shortly afterward.
A Chinese online influencer named “Shandong Kaiko” (山東凱哥) on May 18 posted a video on social media claiming that he had stowed away to Taiwan and planted the Chinese national flag at a site on the coast of Taoyuan’s Dayuan District (大園).
Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration
The Coast Guard Administration on Friday last week apprehended a Chinese after he attempted to swim to Kinmen County’s Dadan Island (大膽島) using a flotation ring.
An official familiar with the cross-strait situation speaking on condition of anonymity on Sunday said that sailing a rubber boat to Taiwan is against the law.
Whether such attempts were made by human trafficking groups or by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to test Taiwan’s coastal defenses and conduct infiltration activities, authorities would consider all possibilities and impose strict regulations, the official said.
Photo: Screengrab from Hsu Shu-hua’s Facebook page
Illegal entries have proliferated and they do not seem to be regular public order contraventions, although in some cases Chinese appeared to takes photographs at the beach while traveling in Taiwan, the official said.
Regarding Chinese livestreaming students at schools in Taiwan, the official confirmed that such incidents occurred at several schools almost at the same time.
These cases are suspicious and authorities are investigating whether certain people or CCP-backed organizations were operating to threaten Taiwan’s national security or commit crimes, the official added.
The government is aware of the suspected cases of livestreams, which have been reported to the National Immigration Agency and security agencies, the official said.
To safeguard societal resilience, citizens encountering such unusual situations are advised to report them to authorities, they said.
Taiwan has rule of law and infringing upon freedoms or causing panic among students in pursuit of online traffic is intolerable, the official said, adding that the motivation behind such behavior needs to be further understood.
Separately yesterday, a Chinese national is being investigated for suspected offenses against privacy after live streaming elementary school students getting off from a school in Taipei, said the Songshan police precinct.
The case was brought to light by Taipei City Councilor Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華), who described the May 15 incident, which happened in the city’s Minsheng community, in a Facebook post.
Hsu said that concerned parents told her a Chinese man was allegedly filming their children and streaming it on Douyin, despite being repeatedly told not to. The streamer had already left when police arrived, but footage from nearby surveillance cameras allowed them to identify the person, a woman surnamed Liu (劉), the police said.
Liu, a 52-year-old Chinese who is married to a Taiwanese and lives near the school, was tracked down the following day.
She told police she was simply sharing her daily life in Taiwan, as well as local customs through livestreams.
Filming people without their consent might infringe upon their portrait rights, and distributing images of minors online could contravening the children and youth protection law, police said.
Additional reporting by CNA
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
The zero emissions ship Porrima P111 was launched yesterday in Kaohsiung, showcasing the nation’s advancement in green technology, city Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said. The nation last year acquired the Swiss-owned vessel, formerly known as Turanor PlanetSolar, in a bid to boost Taiwan’s technology sector, as well as ecotourism in Palau, Chen said at the ship’s launch ceremony at Singda Harbor. Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) also attended the event. The original vessel was the first solar-powered ship to circumnavigate the globe in a voyage from 2010 to 2012. Taiwan-based Porrima Inc (保利馬) installed upgrades with
ENHANCE DETERRENCE: Taiwan has to display ‘fierce resolve’ to defend itself for China to understand that the costs of war outweigh potential gains, Koo said Taiwan’s armed forces must reach a high level of combat readiness by 2027 to effectively deter a potential Chinese invasion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday. His comments came three days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the US Senate that deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan requires making a conflict “cost more than what it’s worth.” Rubio made the remarks in response to a question about US policy on Taiwan’s defense from Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said that Chinese
RSS