Lawmakers yesterday passed amendments to the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), which stipulate that intelligence personnel who spy for an external force and leak information on national defense, national security or communications security could face life imprisonment.
The act previously stipulated a prison term of at least seven years for personnel spying for an external force, or three to 10 years if leaked intelligence was not in the three categories.
People who have access to sources of intelligence, channels, agencies or personnel, or information pertaining to the upholding of mobile or land-based communications security would face a prison term of 10 years to life if they are found to have leaked classified information as spies for a benign or hostile external force, the new rules say.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The 30-year statute of limitations for such charges was extended to a lifetime.
If they leaked other classified information while spying for an external force, they would face a prison term of seven to 10 years, the rules say.
People who are not engaged in spying activities, but who leak intelligence would face a prison term of at least seven years, while those who illegally access such information would face three to 10 years behind bars, they say.
Those who illegally damage, destroy or conceal intelligence would face a prison term of three to seven years and a fine of NT$2 million (US$65,970), the amended act says.
The minimum penalty for active or retired intelligence personnel who have been recruited by an external force to conduct espionage missions was raised from three to seven years in prison.
The penalty would also apply to personnel found to have attempted to spy for an external force, the amendments say.
Intelligence personnel who exploit rules in the act that allow them to go undercover or establish companies, stores or organizations to leak intelligence would face 1.5 times the punishments and a fine of up to NT$10 million if they are found to have benefited from their infractions, they say.
Intelligence agencies should pin down, study and analyze commercial secrets that are unduly gathered, stolen, leaked or transferred at the instruction of a benign or hostile external force, they say.
Also passed was a supplementary resolution sponsored by Democratic Progressive Party legislators Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), Wu Kuen-yu (吳焜裕) and Chen Man-li (陳曼麗), as well as independent Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) that grants active intelligence personnel and their family members discounted medical fees at military hospitals.
Intelligence personnel who have accrued seniority and their families should be granted the same healthcare and childrearing benefits that retired military personnel receive, the resolution says.
As intelligence personnel are the most susceptible group to being recruited by external forces, and their lives and the lives of their families are at risk whenever they are abroad, the benefits would make them more willing to stay in their posts longer, the legislators said.
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
RSS