The Ministry of National Defense’s smart monitoring system upgrades for important bases are severely behind schedule, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in its latest report.
The ministry had commissioned the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) to plan and install a “smart” monitoring system to prevent people from snooping around military bases or impersonating military officials to steal information, the report said.
The system has become necessary because personnel cuts have made it impossible for the patrols to fully cover the bases.
Photo: Reuters
The ministry commissioned the CSIST to build the first batch of smart monitoring systems in 2019, to be used at the military’s Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command, as well as bases with important electronic and communication offices.
In 2020, the ministry said it planned the second phase of the project, which would include essential bases across all three branches of the armed forces, bases for reservists and military police offices.
The project had funding of NT$12.8 billion (US$416.4 million at the current exchange rate), it said, adding that the second round of upgrades were to cover 283 bases and be completed from 2020 to 2025.
Upgrades to 61 bases should have been completed by last year, but the Budget Center said the ministry considered the project to be less than satisfactory from 2019 to 2021, citing a lack of completed system designs and specifications, a failure to complete designs based on military needs, and general issues resulting in delays.
More than half of the 61 sites that should have been upgraded by the end of last year were not completed on schedule, the center said.
The CSIST was also accused of using Chinese-made components during a review last year, resulting in funding for the project being frozen until the ministry provided a report on its investigations.
The most recent ministry report confirmed that the encryption driver for license plate identification and its wireless mice were made in China, adding that it has already swapped out the software.
The license plate identification system is touch-operated, and its function should not be significantly affected by the software change, a separate ministry report said.
The dispatch of personnel, equipment delivery delays and the relaunch of a CSIST equipment bid would further delay the process, it said, adding that it has completed inspections at nine facilities and has yet to inspect 17.
There are 35 facilities that are still installing the system, and the ministry it expects to reach last year’s target by June, it 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