The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) released its defense policy paper yesterday, proposing to establish a cyberarmy as the fourth branch of the armed forces, along with focused investment and government support to develop the nation’s defense industry.
Other key recommendations in the 2015 Defense Policy Blue Paper include nurturing companies for the government’s indigenous submarine plan, merging the Veterans Affairs Council with the Ministry of National Defense and reassessing the all-volunteer military program.
DPP Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said the nation needs to set up a cyberarmy to combat the daily “digital warfare” seen in cyberattacks from China.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The DPP’s Defense Policy Advisory Committee proposed establishing a cyberarmy by recruiting cybersecurity experts and young computer professionals, with an initial budget of NT$1 billion (US$32.56 million) and a “Cyberarmy Command Headquarters Office” that would integrate the functions and resources from the defense ministry’s “communications electronics and information,” “military intelligence and surveillance,” “digital warfare command” and “communications development” offices.
The party said the new branch would have commissioned officers and a command structure similar to the army’s, with active service obligations and benefits in line with the current branches.
Asked about the DPP’s proposal, defense ministry officials said the National Security Act (國家安全法) could be amended to enable existing units of the armed forces to defend the nation’s digital territory.
They also said that the military has in recent years adjusted its resources and recruiting to attract computing and electronic communications staff to enhance the nation’s overall cybersecurity, while the military employs cyberattack simulations during its digital warfare exercises.
Committee convener York Chen (陳文政) said the nation has the talent in science and engineering to obtain the technical know-how to advance toward the goal of a self-sufficient defense industry.
“An indigenous defense industry has a positive strategic impact on bolstering public confidence in, and support of, national defense,” the policy paper says.
DPP officials said Taiwan faces increasing difficulty in obtaining foreign arms because of China.
The policy paper says the government should seek international cooperation with its allies on new technologies so that it could eventually produce and maintain most of its weaponry and equipment.
It also says the defense ministry should encourage investment in the capacity for indigenous arms production.
“In the past, Taiwan’s defense ministry officials often headed to the US with shopping lists of weapons and military equipment to buy,” Wu said.
“That was the old approach. In the future, we will go to the US and tell them what our needs are and what are our weaknesses are. We will ask them to assist and upgrade our domestic defense sector in these areas,” he said.
The annual budget of the defense ministry should be stabilized at 3 percent of Taiwan’s GDP, Wu said.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS