Taiwan to add up to 9 radar stations for maritime rescue, surveillance

Taipei, April 16 (CNA) Taiwan plans to build up to nine new radar stations and improve data integration between 57 existing radar stations by 2028 to boost its maritime rescue and environmental monitoring capacity, an official overseeing the country's maritime research said Thursday.

Under the initiative, which began in 2025, the government will seek to address perceived format compatibility and information sharing issues, Chen Chung-ling (陳璋玲), president of the National Academy of Maritime Research, told a weekly Cabinet news conference.

The project also aims to build eight to nine new radar stations at traditional blind spots, including maritime areas near the Pengjia Islet, the Luzon Strait and the Taiwan Shoal -- an ocean bank situated east of China's Guangdong Province and southwest of the Penghu Islands, Chen said.

Upon completion, the project will expand Taiwan's total monitored surface current area from 155,000 square kilometers to 210,000 square kilometers and improve both the resolution and density of return signals, she said.

The network will aid agencies in ensuring navigational safety by using artificial intelligence to project current movements in maritime rescue missions and containing oil spills.

It is also expected to strengthen the detection of dangerous rip currents, a feature people engaging in water activities can benefit from by using the academy's bilingual Chinese-English "Go Ocean" app, Chen said.

Funding for the initiative, which totals more than NT$400 million (US$12.68 million), has been approved by the Legislature, she added.