To better protect the nation's science and technology development, the government has drafted a law under which people would face criminal charges for divulging high-tech intelligence, National Science Council Chairman Wei Che-ho (魏哲和) said yesterday.
Wei said the national science and technology protection bill has been drafted with reference to the US Economic Espionage Act and related laws of other developed countries.
The law would not only apply to the chip-making industry, but would also cover other areas, including the military, aeronautic engineering, computer software and biotechnology.
Wei said the council will further set up a regulatory system to govern high-tech talent from the private sector who plan to work in China, so as to prevent headhunting by Chinese companies and unauthorized Taiwanese businesses.
The council will specify the categories of high-tech talent to be subject to the control measure and will limit the number of people affected by it, so as to avoid any constitutional violations.
On Friday, Premier Yu Shyi-kun announced that the government would allow local chipmakers to transfer depreciated eight-inch wafer fabrication machinery to China on the condition that they meet certain requirements.
One of the requirements was that their 12-inch wafer fabrication plants have ramped up mass production.
Alongside the announcement, Yu promised that the government would work to protect Taiwan's high-tech intelligence to safeguard the nation's security and interests.
The decision to lift the ban was made after the Executive Yuan had obtained a nod from former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who put forth the "no haste, be patient" policy to limit Taiwanese investment projects in China.
According to TSU lawmakers yesterday, the Executive Yuan, before making the announcement, had discussed the matter with party Chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文), who later reported it to Lee.
Lee is widely seen as the TSU's spiritual leader.
Though Lee thought the Executive Yuan's new policy was "acceptable," he requested that the Executive Yuan set a specific definition for "mass production," according to TSU lawmaker Liao Pen-yen (
Also, Lee warned that lifting the investment ban would lead to the collapse of Taiwan's economy unless proper regulatory measures were available, Liao said.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
COORDINATION, ASSURANCE: Separately, representatives reintroduced a bill that asks the state department to review guidelines on how the US engages with Taiwan US senators on Tuesday introduced the Taiwan travel and tourism coordination act, which they said would bolster bilateral travel and cooperation. The bill, proposed by US senators Marsha Blackburn and Brian Schatz, seeks to establish “robust security screenings for those traveling to the US from Asia, open new markets for American industry, and strengthen the economic partnership between the US and Taiwan,” they said in a statement. “Travel and tourism play a crucial role in a nation’s economic security,” but Taiwan faces “pressure and coercion from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” in this sector, the statement said. As Taiwan is a “vital trading
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