The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted a man for allegedly attempting to create a Taiwanese branch of Hikvision Digital Technology Co, a Chinese drone and surveillance camera company with ties to Beijing.
The man, surnamed Lou (樓), a former sales manager for Taiwan at Hikivision, faces charges related to breaches of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the prosecutors’ office said.
Another man, surnamed Chen (陳), who is registered as the head of Koangyow Integration Machine Co and allegedly allowed Lou to use his company as a shell corporation for Hikivision, was granted deferred prosecution, it said.
Photo: Wang Ting-chuan, Taipei Times
Lou asked local distributors to delegate their recruiting rights to Hikvision and discussed salaries directly with people applying for sales positions, prosecutors said.
Hikivision is the world’s largest manufacturer of surveillance equipment. It is a Chinese People’s Liberation Army research and development partner and its main supplier of drones.
In 2020, the US Department of Defense blacklisted Hikvision products, citing the corporation’s close ties with China’s armed forces, an allegation the company denies.
That year, Lou was hired by Hikivision as its Taiwan sales manager, and in 2021 he was tasked with hiring tech workers and investing in Taiwan without authorization from the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Review Committee, contravening Article 40-1 of the act, prosecutors said.
The article says that an enterprise from China or an enterprise in which it has invested in a third area cannot “engage in any business activities in Taiwan,” unless it is “permitted by the competent authorities and has established in the Taiwan Area a branch or liaison office.”
The penalty is up to three years in prison and/or a fine of up to NT$15 million (US$485,972).
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS