The Cabinet yesterday approved draft amendments to two laws aimed at deterring illegal marine dredging in Taiwanese waters by Chinese ships by increasing the penalties to a maximum of seven years in jail, a fine of up to NT$80 million (US$2.77 million) and confiscation of the vessels.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told yesterday’s Cabinet meeting that illegal dredging by Chinese ships has damaged marine ecology in the region, citing the discovery on Sunday that 400 to 500 such vessels were dredging sand off the coast of Matsu between Nangan (南竿) and Juguang (莒光) townships.
Such activities are unacceptable, he said, ordering that Chinese ships found dredging illegally in Taiwanese waters be confiscated, their crew members face trial and the ships, as well as their machinery, be put up for auction, sold or otherwise disposed of promptly.
Photo: CNA
The Cabinet approved proposed amendments to the Act on the Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf of the Republic of China (中華民國專屬經濟海域及大陸礁層法) and the Sand and Gravel Excavation Act (土石採取法).
Su urged Executive Yuan ministries and agencies to work with legislative committees to expedite passage of the amendments, and called on the Ministry of Justice, the Ocean Affairs Council and the Ministry of National Defense to step up patrols of dredging hotspots.
The proposed amendment to Item 3, Article 18 of the economic zone act states that vessels found illegally dredging could be taken over for governmental use or subject to other measures within a suitable range of time, Ministry of the Interior Department of Land Administration Director Wang Cheng-chi (王成機) said.
Increasing the length of a prison sentence from the current maximum of five years to seven would be a deterrent, he said.
At present the maximum fine is NT$50 million under that law.
Ministry of Economic Affairs Bureau of Mines Director-General Hsu Jing-wen (徐景文) said that amendments to the sand and gravel excavation act would clearly designate areas covered by the act — including territorial waters as well waters near Kinmen, Matsu and the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島).
The proposed amendments to that act would increase the penalties for violations to match those in the economic zone act, and give the bureau the authority to confiscate equipment, Hsu added.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods