People’s movements in public have been exposed and national security has been breached because ministries have failed to enforce a ban of Chinese-made electronic displays and video recording devices, the Economic Democracy Union said yesterday.
Video footage, information and photographs have probably been sent to China, making it a serious issue and a great threat to national security, Economic Democracy Union researcher Hsu Kuan-tze (許冠澤) told a news conference at the legislature in Taipei.
Officials at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and other ministries have neglected their duty, failing to enforce the regulations that prohibit the use of surveillance cameras, electronic displays, telecom devices and software produced in China, Hsu said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“Due to the well-documented threat to Taiwan’s national security, the ban was put into effect in 2020,” Hsu said. “Last month, the economy ministry revised the regulations to cover devices at businesses, including convenience stores, supermarkets, hypermarts, shopping malls and department stores,” he said.
The revised regulations strictly banned Chinese-made software and apps, “but only asked that businesses avoid using Chinese-made devices,” Hsu said, adding that while the changes were a step in the right direction by asking the private sector to cooperate, they did not go far enough.
However, Economic Democracy Union members have uncovered examples where the rules are not being followed, he said, adding that ministries have been negligent in enforcing the ban.
The University of Taipei, which is administered by the Taipei Department of Education, still has surveillance cameras from China’s Hikvision Digital Technology Co, with a preliminary check of the university’s administrative building showing that there were more than 50 Hikvision cameras installed, he said.
Most likely there are many more on campus, he added.
Hikvision circumvented the restrictions by using its distribution company in Taiwan, Taipei-based DigiFocus Co, Economic Democracy Union researcher Ou Hsu-shao (歐栩韶) said.
“DigiFocus secured a government contract of the economic ministry’s Industrial Development Bureau to supply video cameras and other devices,” Ou said.
“This was a clear contravention of the law, Ou said.
“DigiFocus has Taiwanese skin, but is China’s Hikvision on the inside,” she said. “We demand that the judiciary investigate this serious breach.”
The electronic displays at Taiwan Railways Administration-run stations that were hacked to show messages denigrating US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi during her visit early last month had Chinese-made software and were easily penetrated by Chinese hackers, Ou said.
“The lack of scrutiny and enforcement of the ban must be addressed,” she said.
“When surveillance cameras and monitoring devices made by Chinese companies are installed in Taiwan, everyone might be under the eye of the Chinese government,” she said.
“Such devices are installed at most buildings, at the entrances of residential communities, on school campuses, in shopping malls and stores, and on roads to record traffic events,” she said. “If the data are transmitted to China, it is a grave risk to national security and the safety of all residents of Taiwan.”
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and