Chinese intelligence authorities have files on almost all the personal data of Taiwan's residents, Legislator Trong Chai (
Chai, together with fellow DPP lawmakers Lin Chin-hsing (林進興) and Chiang Chao-yi (江昭儀) of the Alliance Against Selling Out Taiwan (反賣台聯盟), submitted an emergency inquiry to the Executive Yuan yesterday, telling the administration about the seriousness of the problem and calling for a quick resolution to the "crisis."
The alliance was formed to monitor interactions between the opposition pan-blue camp and China.
Personal data
Chai quoted unidentified China-based Taiwanese businesspeople and intelligence sources as saying recently that Chinese intelligence officials have files on the personal data of almost every resident in Taiwan.
Chinese intelligence authorities' computers contain data on Taiwan residents' household registration, military service records, vehicle registration and even national health insurance records, Chai said.
Chinese authorities also keep files on Taiwan's political parties, military hierarchy line-ups, and high technology research and development sector personnel, Chai said.
The data could be smuggled from Taiwan and sold to Chinese authorities by Taiwan officials or stolen by criminal rings who trade the information for certain purposes, Chai said.
Elections
Chai said that China's intelligence authorities have established a task force to focus on Taiwan's legislative elections next month, including gathering personal data on the candidates. The task force is even dedicated to trying to influence the elections by having Taiwanese businesspeople in China return to Taiwan and vote or drum up support for candidates that are more to Beijing's liking, he said.
He said this is a pressing issue that the Taiwanese people should be concerned with and that should be tackled.
Meanwhile, Lin and Chiang said they want the government to "clean up" all possible channels through which important personal data could be smuggled to China and to establish a special task force to find out whether certain government officials have been bribed by Beijing for intelligence information.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS