A top national security official yesterday said the government should restrict Chinese investment in domestic information and communications infrastructure concerning national security.
“Even the high-tech US placed restrictions on Huawei [China’s Huawei Technologies Co] and so based on national security, the National Security Bureau supports placing some kind of restrictions and limitations on Chinese investment in key information and communications infrastructure,” National Security Bureau (NSB) Director Tsai Der-sheng (蔡得勝) said as he answered questions from legislators at a Foreign and National Defense Committee meeting.
Tsai added that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has never eased its hostility to Taiwan.
“If Taiwan wants to develop economic exchanges with China, it should be capable of controlling them,” he said.
The committee passed a resolution in the meeting, announcing that now that several countries, including Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and India, have either barred Chinese companies from investing or are applying strict standards in their reviews of projects involving Chinese companies, the bureau should work with the Ministry of National Defense (MND) and other government bureaus to provide a report to the legislature before May on restrictions for Chinese companies investment, adding that the report should be a comprehensive evaluation that would guide policy.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) asked whether telecommunications systems used by the bureau could be compromised by Chinese telecommunications companies, such as Huawei.
Tsai said he believed national security officials should be banned from using cellphones in sensitive meetings or occasions. The bureau adopts a confidential cellphone system that was developed by the bureau and Acer Inc. The system has several security functions that could ensure communications were not compromised, the official added.
A US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee report earlier this month said that, due to security concerns, Huawei and ZTE should be blocked from mergers, takeovers and acquisitions in the US and advised US entities against doing businesses with the companies.
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) then said that despite the US warning, Taiwan was considering opening Type I telecommunications enterprises to Chinese investment.
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