■ LAW ENFORCEMENT
Campaign report released
Police were mobilized on more than 2 million shifts to maintain order at over 1,600 activities related to the presidential campaign in the 10 months leading up to Saturday's election, National Police Agency statistics released earlier this week showed. Beginning in May, the agency began to dispatch officers to prevent campaign-related violence around the country, with a total of 2.24 million shifts assigned to keep order, the statistics showed.
■ DIPLOMACY
Dalai Lama thanks Chen
The Dalai Lama thanked President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and the Taiwanese government for their long-term support and friendship for Tibet, particularly following Beijing's recent violent crackdown, the Presidential Office said in a statement yesterday. The Presidential Office said that the Dalai Lama expressed his appreciation to Chen in a letter forwarded by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama told Chen he thought the electoral process in Taiwan was a model for countries in Asia.
■ GOVERNMENT
Mark Chen appointed
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has appointed National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Mark Chen (陳唐山) as secretary-general of the Presidential Office, succeeding Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), the Presidential Office said in a statement last night. It said Yeh had offered her resignation on Monday, citing mental and physical exhaustion. The president approved her resignation yesterday, it said. NSC Deputy Secretary-General Chen Chung-hsin (陳忠信) was made NSC acting secretary-general, effective today, the statement said.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
SECURITY RISK: A university student sent a general alarm signal to THSRC’s control center on April 5, causing four operating trains to temporarily halt services The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday pledged to submit a report on ways to harden the communication security of railway systems after a university student hacked into Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) radio communications system and disrupted operations of four high-speed rail trains last month. Investigation by the police and prosecutors found that the university student and radio enthusiast, surnamed Lin (林), first used a software-defined radio (SDR) filter to analyze THSRC signals, downloaded the data to a computer, cracked the parameters and then programmed the codes into his radio devices. Lin then sent a general alarm signal to
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