Government employees could face punishment if they use TikTok and other Chinese streaming services that have the potential to compromise the nation’s cybersecurity systems, Executive Yuan officials said yesterday.
Although the Ministry of Digital Affairs last week announced that government workers may not download TikTok (or Douyin in Chinese), Xiaohongshu (小紅書) or other Chinese applications that could compromise cybersecurity, so far, only the Executive Yuan and its agencies have implemented the rule, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Loh Meei-ling (羅美玲) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee.
Government employees in the Legislative Yuan, the Judicial Yuan, the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan can still access TikTok, she said, asking if the country had two different standards.
Photo: Reuters
Nor is there a list of software that government employees are prohibited to download to smartphones entrusted to them for government affairs, she said, adding that their smartphones are only subject to inspection twice a year.
Executive Yuan Secretary-General Li Meng-yen (李孟諺) said the Cabinet would coordinate with the four other government branches to uniformly ban the use of TikTok and other cybersecurity-compromising streaming platforms.
Minister Without Portfolio and Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said that government employees would be punished in accordance with the regulations if they contravene the TikTok ban.
Photo: CNA
“The punishment might not be enough to deter government workers from using TikTok, so we might need more effective solutions, such as preventing access to such software in public areas. These would be the types of issues that an ad-hoc task force of the Executive Yuan will address,” Lo said.
However, more public discussion is needed to determine whether Taiwan should draft laws to completely ban the use of TikTok across the nation, as India and other countries have done, Lo said.
Li said that the government has the responsibility to ensure that government agencies are free from the influence of Chinese apps.
Photo: CNA
“However, if the TikTok ban were to be extended from government employees to civilians, freedom of speech — which the government is obligated to protect — would be an issue,” he said.
Separately, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said the government would reinforce the national cybersecurity infrastructure and enhance citizens’ ability to identify misinformation and disinformation to fight cognitive warfare launched by foreign forces.
Tsai made the remarks at the Presidential Office during a meeting with a group of students from the Kaohsiung Municipal Senior High School who won the top prize at this year’s Cybersecurity Golden Shield Awards.
“My administration has always believed that cybersecurity issues are national security issues. With the rapid development of new technologies, our cybersecurity system is facing increasing threats and frequent attacks. Foreign forces are launching cognitive warfare by disseminating misinformation and disinformation to confuse the public,” Tsai said.
“All these tactics could potentially do great harm to our democratic system. As such, we are enhancing citizens’ ability to identify misinformation and disinformation and reinforce the national cybersecurity infrastructure,” she added.
The Cyber Security Management Act (資通安全管理法), which the legislature passed in 2018, requires government agencies and key infrastructure operators to establish cybersecurity protection mechanisms.
“The Administration for Cybersecurity at the Ministry of Digital Affairs, which was founded in August, handles national cybersecurity issues, conducts cybersecurity protection drills and trains cybersecurity workers,” Tsai said. “We will also work with our democratic allies to build a more resilient and safer supply chain, and enforce measures to protect intellectual property rights.”
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’