The US has taken measures to build a more reliable supply chain through information security cooperation with like-minded partners such as Taiwan, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Sandra Oudkirk said yesterday.
“The Biden-Harris administration is taking key measures to prioritize and elevate cybersecurity within the United States and with our like-minded partners, including Taiwan,” Oudkirk said, referring to US President Joe Biden and US Vice President Kamala Harris.
She made the remarks at the Taiwan-US Financial Cybersecurity Summit held by the AIT and the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance in Taipei.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“Cybersecurity is a shared challenge and handling it will require a shared approach,” she said, adding that the US Department of the Treasury and Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) have been working together on the issue, and “already they have accomplished so much.”
Several Treasury officials are in Taiwan to share the US’ experiences at the summit, she said.
Oudkirk also said that the US Department of Commerce is planning a cybersecurity trade mission to Taiwan in September, during which the two sides would follow up on the discussions.
Photo: AP
As the tactics, techniques and procedures of cyberattacks are constantly evolving, “it is critical that we work together as partners to learn from each other and to bolster our critical networks,” she said.
“Here in Taiwan, I have made cybersecurity a key focus of AIT engagement. I am proud of the work we have done together so far,” she said, citing such examples as the Global Cooperation and Training Framework workshops, the Cyber Offensive and Defensive Exercise, and the US-Taiwan Technology, Trade and Investment Collaboration.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who addressed the summit after Oudkirk, said that she has been underlining the concept “cybersecurity is national security” since she took office.
Information security threats are inevitable challenges Taiwan has to face while promoting digital transformation, she said, adding that the identification, assessment and control of information security risks require cooperation among industries.
The government has been improving every aspect of information security protection, including by establishing the Ministry of Digital Affairs in August last year and the National Institute of Cyber Security in February, Tsai said.
It also issued new action guidelines last month to fight online fraud, she said.
The FSC in 2020 introduced the Financial Cyber Security Action Plan and updated it last year to improve resilience to information security breaches, Tsai said.
The Legislative Yuan last month passed amendments to the Banking Act (銀行法), the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) and the Futures Trading Act (期貨交易法) to boost the protection of key financial infrastructure, she said.
On international cooperation, the Financial Information Sharing and Analysis Center has been working with the US since 2019 to share intelligence on information security, Tsai said.
The center joined the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams in January last year, after which it has signed memorandums of understanding with financial security agencies in many countries, she said.
In other news, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday reiterated that the US continues to be guided by the “one China” policy, based on the Three Joint Communiques, the Taiwan Relations Act and the “six assurances.”
“That hasn’t changed and that won’t change,” he said during a conversation with Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass.
“Under the Taiwan Relations Act we’ve had a longstanding policy of making sure that we could do what’s necessary to help Taiwan defend itself,” he said.
“That policy and the sort of rheostat on it also depends a lot on what Beijing is doing or not doing, and that was designed in from the get-go, including in the communiques,” he added.
Additional reporting by staff writer
‘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