The targeting of Taiwanese Web sites by Chinese hackers could be more serious than ever and threatens the security of not only military secrets, but also the nation’s high-tech and commercial information, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director Tsai Der-sheng (蔡得勝) said yesterday.
Tsai, the nation’s top security official, made the remarks during a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
During a question-and-answer session at the meeting, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) cited the US’ repeated expressions of concern about Chinese hacking and asked how serious the damage was that such cyberattacks had inflicted on government and private institutions in Taiwan.
“Very serious,” Tsai said. “Before, China’s hacking focused on stealing information, but now we have discovered that the attacks are aiming to damage national infrastructure. Chinese cyberattacks could seriously undermine our infrastructure and transportation systems, as well as financial operations,” Tsai said.
Tsai said that because China had already stolen a lot of data from Taiwan, Beijing could be able to monitor and control “our personal data through inter-analysis.”
The security chief said the government should pay more attention to hacking, as it poses a bigger threat to national security than terrorism.
Tsai proposed that the Executive Yuan and the bureau establish an information security office to integrate efforts to counter hacking attacks from China and protect the nation’s data and systems.
Separately, but at the same session, Lin asked Tsai whether China’s People’s Liberation Army was deploying Dong Feng-16 (DF-16) missiles at bases in Anhui Province’s Huangshan City.
Chinese media last month reported that the Chinese military had started to relocate the DF-16s to the country’s southeast coast.
Tsai said the transfer of the missiles was believed to be part of off-site training and that there was not enough evidence to indicate that the missiles would be stationed along the southeast coast.
Lin then asked if the missiles, which have a range of 1,000km, would have an impact on national security if they were positioned on the southeast coast.
Tsai did not respond directly, but said the DF-16s are mainly used for “anti-interference warfare” and that the bureau was paying close attention to any further developments in their positioning.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS