President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has ordered national security agencies to conduct a thorough investigation into allegations that wiretapping by intelligence agencies had become rampant since he took office and demanded severe punishment for officials who disobeyed his campaign promise to ban the practice, the Presidential Office said yesterday.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said that Ma promised during his election campaign that there would be no more illegal wiretapping if he was elected.
Since Ma took office in May last year, Wang said the president personally gave orders to intelligence chiefs asking them to follow the law if wiretapping was necessary.
Wang made the remarks in response to a report in the Chinese-language China Times yesterday, which quoted an anonymous source at the monitoring unit of an intelligence agency as saying that wiretapping conducted by intelligence agencies had “only increased” over the past year.
The official was quoted as saying that although it was necessary to conduct wiretapping for the sake of national security, it was a violation of human rights if such means were used on politicians or members of the media.
The report said that while the source did not provide specifics, she used the visit of the Dalai Lama as an example, saying that intelligence agencies had gathered information about the Buddhist leader’s plans to visit before he even filed a request to do so.
The source said she believed Ma meant it when he said he wanted an end to illegal wiretapping.
Ma has personally inspected monitoring units of intelligence agencies on various occasions to reiterate his determination to end the practice of illegal eavesdropping, Wang said.
Ma also asked national security agencies to probe media reports about rampant eavesdropping, Wang said, adding that agencies must clean up their image if allegations proved to be false.
If they were true, however, Ma has requested that agencies mete out severe punishment to individuals who “complied in public but opposed in private,” Wang said.
In a statement yesterday, the National Security Bureau (NSB) dismissed the report as “groundless,” saying wiretapping had dropped by 70 percent and that all activities were conducted in a legal and necessary fashion after intelligence agencies obtained approval.
“The newspaper report of an increase in wiretapping of people’s phone conversations is just not true,” the statement said.
The NSB said Ma had visited three surveillance centers at the Ministry of Justice, the Criminal Investigation Bureau and the Military Intelligence Bureau in July last year and requested that special agents follow his orders.
The NSB said that approval must be obtained before an agent is allowed to carry out phone intercepts on any subject and that surveillance is a last resort after “all other alternative means of investigation” have been tried, it said.
In a press release, the Ministry of National Defense said the Military Intelligence Bureau’s mandate was to collect intelligence on matters of national security and carry out espionage activities against China, not tap the phones of domestic subjects.
The Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法) states that those who conduct illegal wiretapping are subject to up to five years in jail.
Civil servants who abuse their power or the opportunity or means of their work related to wiretaps to conduct or assist illegal wiretapping are subject to a jail term of between six months and five years.
Civil servants or former civil servants who obtain or learn of information acquired by legal wiretapping but who leak or deliver the information without reason are subject to a sentence of up to three years in jail.
Non-civil servants who obtain or learn of information acquired by legal wiretapping but who leak or deliver the information without reason are subject to a sentence of up to two-year imprisonment or a fine of up to NT$20,000 (US$617).
Telecommunication companies or postal offices refusing to cooperate with monitoring agencies are subject to a fine of between NT$500,000 and NT$2.5 million.
Meanwhile, legislators across party lines yesterday urged the Presidential Office to launch an investigation.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus deputy secretary-general Cheng Ru-fen (鄭汝芬) told a press conference at the legislature that the government should make a full public account on whether intelligence agencies increased wiretapping after Ma come into office.
KMT Legislator Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), also present during the press conference, urged whoever made the allegations to present evidence to back his or her claim.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) told a press conference that he would propose that the Legislative Yuan organize a special committee to probe the allegations.
DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said the allegations meant Ma had broken his promise to end illegal wiretapping.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
A bipartisan group of US representatives have introduced a draft US-Taiwan Defense Innovation Partnership bill, aimed at accelerating defense technology collaboration between Taiwan and the US in response to ongoing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The bill was introduced by US representatives Zach Nunn and Jill Tokuda, with US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar and US Representative Ashley Hinson joining as original cosponsors, a news release issued by Tokuda’s office on Thursday said. The draft bill “directs the US Department of Defense to work directly with Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense through their respective
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA