Taiwan is thoroughly reviewing four key military court system bills as part of efforts to counter Chinese infiltration, following President William Lai’s (賴清德) 17-point national security strategy unveiled in March, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said in an exclusive interview with Liberty Times (sister paper of Taipei Times).
Lai’s 17-point strategy is aimed at countering Chinese threats to Taiwan’s sovereignty, military infiltration, confusion of national identity, promotion of reunification and drawing in Taiwanese businesses and young people, Chang said.
The Executive Yuan has already identified 120 related tasks, including 21 laws that need to be amended or legislated as well as executive orders and administrative measures that need to be revised, he said.
Photo: Chen Yu-jui, Taipei Times
Much of this work has already begun, including passing the Special Statute on Strengthening the Resilience of the Economy, Society and National Security in Response to International Developments (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例) and amendments to the Cyber Security Management Act (資通安全管理法) and Industrial Innovation Statute (產業創新條例), Chang said.
The Legislative Yuan has also completed an initial review of legislation concerning undersea cables, classifying them as critical infrastructure and increasing penalties for illegal vessels, he said.
The legislation would impose the same criminal liability for damaging water or natural gas pipelines as for damaging undersea cables and require ships to activate their automatic identification systems, he added.
In response to Chinese attempts to infiltrate the military, the four major bills concerning the military justice system, the Military Trial Act (軍事審判法), Military Judges Personnel Act (軍法官人事條例), Military Court Organization Act (軍事法院組織法) and Military Prosecutors Office Organization Act (軍事檢察署組織法), are being intensively reviewed, Chang said.
The National Security Act (國家安全法) and Criminal Code of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍刑法) are also being discussed and would be steadily improved, he added.
Regarding executive orders, plans and administrative measures, Chang said that next year’s national defense budget would reach three percent of national GDP, following the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s model.
In addition, the Mainland Affairs Council in April issued a new interpretation of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), specifying that holding a permanent residency certificate issued by China would also result in the loss of “Taiwan status,” he said.
Military personnel, civil servants and teachers are prohibited from holding Chinese IDs or household registration and are required to report any contact with Chinese officials when traveling to China, Hong Kong or Macau, Chang said.
In terms of education, funding from the Higher Education Sprout Project cannot be used to sponsor trips to China, he added.
In other news, an amended regulation requiring Chinese nationals to provide notarized proof that they have renounced their People's Republic of China (PRC) passport to qualify for permanent residency in Taiwan is to take effect today, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) announced Wednesday.
Under the amendment, the required document must be notarized and demonstrate that the applicant has "lost their household registration in the Mainland Area" and that they have "either not applied for, or renounced their PRC passport."
Before the amendment, the applicant was only required to hand in a document proving that their "original household registration" had been renounced.
The amendment is necessary because, in practice, Chinese nationals can still hold a PRC passport even after renouncing their household registration in China, the MOI said.
Additional reporting by CNA
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
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
RSS