Government drafts law to fight high-tech espionage

To better protect the nation's science and technology development, the government has drafted a law under which people would face criminal charges for divulging high-tech intelligence, National Science Council Chairman Wei Che-ho (魏哲和) said yesterday.

Wei said the national science and technology protection bill has been drafted with reference to the US Economic Espionage Act and related laws of other developed countries.

The law would not only apply to the chip-making industry, but would also cover other areas, including the military, aeronautic engineering, computer software and biotechnology.

Wei said the council will further set up a regulatory system to govern high-tech talent from the private sector who plan to work in China, so as to prevent headhunting by Chinese companies and unauthorized Taiwanese businesses.

The council will specify the categories of high-tech talent to be subject to the control measure and will limit the number of people affected by it, so as to avoid any constitutional violations.

On Friday, Premier Yu Shyi-kun announced that the government would allow local chipmakers to transfer depreciated eight-inch wafer fabrication machinery to China on the condition that they meet certain requirements.

One of the requirements was that their 12-inch wafer fabrication plants have ramped up mass production.

Alongside the announcement, Yu promised that the government would work to protect Taiwan's high-tech intelligence to safeguard the nation's security and interests.

The decision to lift the ban was made after the Executive Yuan had obtained a nod from former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who put forth the "no haste, be patient" policy to limit Taiwanese investment projects in China.

According to TSU lawmakers yesterday, the Executive Yuan, before making the announcement, had discussed the matter with party Chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文), who later reported it to Lee.

Lee is widely seen as the TSU's spiritual leader.

Though Lee thought the Executive Yuan's new policy was "acceptable," he requested that the Executive Yuan set a specific definition for "mass production," according to TSU lawmaker Liao Pen-yen (廖本煙), who had met Lee on Friday.

Also, Lee warned that lifting the investment ban would lead to the collapse of Taiwan's economy unless proper regulatory measures were available, Liao said.