A Chinese cruise ship sailed within 2 nautical miles (3.7km) of Pingtung County’s Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), a group wrote on Facebook on Friday.
Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan, posted footage of the Gulangyu (鼓浪嶼號) cruise ship passing through waters off southern Taiwan, where the vessel could be clearly seen from the shoreline.
With a passenger capacity of up to 1,800 people, the ship, if fully loaded, would have enough people to staff a battalion-sized military force, Taiwan ADIZ wrote.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan ADIZ Facebook page
If such events become routine, they could pose a “serious threat to Taiwan’s security,” it said.
A video allegedly taken by a passenger on the ship showing the peninsula overlaid with simplified Chinese text reading: “Taiwan is China” was posted to Chinese social media.
Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) yesterday said that the public should be aware of the incident, which appeared to be a part of Chinese “gray zone” activities, which are provocative or aggressive actions that fall below the threshold of armed conflict.
The council would work with the Maritime and Port Bureau and national security agencies to establish a database of closely monitored vessels, she said.
The cruise ship has been identified as a Bermuda-registered passenger ship, she said.
After entering Taiwan’s waters around 2pm on Wednesday, the ship was monitored by the Coast Guard Administration, and it maintained course and speed, eventually exiting Taiwan’s waters toward the northeast, Kuan said.
The incident was understood to be a “united front” action by China, she added.
The government has already established a cross-agency joint mechanism for managing maritime targets, she said.
The coast guard is responsible for monitoring flag-of-convenience vessels funded with Chinese capital, especially in sensitive areas such as undersea cable zones, she said.
The Maritime and Port Bureau oversees the Regulations on the Administration of Innocent Passage of Foreign Vessels through the Territorial Sea of the Republic of China (外國船舶無害通過中華民國領海管理辦法), and it would work with national security agencies to build a vessel intelligence and tracking database, she said.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
CASE: Prosecutors have requested heavy sentences, citing a lack of remorse and the defendants’ role in ‘undermining the country’s democratic foundations’ Five people affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), including senior staff from the party’s Taipei branch, were indicted yesterday for allegedly forging thousands of signatures to recall two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. Those indicted include KMT Taipei chapter director Huang Lu Chin-ru (黃呂錦茹), secretary-general Chu Wen-ching (初文卿) and secretary Yao Fu-wen (姚富文), the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said in a news release. Prosecutors said the three were responsible for fabricating 5,211 signature forms — 2,537 related to the recall of DPP Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) and 2,674 for DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) — with forged entries accounting for
RSS