National Security Bureau (NSB) Director Tsai Der-sheng (蔡得勝) yesterday said that his bureau does not support government agencies using China’s Huawei Technologies Co’s (華為) products and said the company should be barred from government bids.
Tsai made the remarks during a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee in the morning.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) asked Tsai Der-sheng whether government agencies, including the Presidential Office and the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau, had used Huawei’s network cards in their work cellphones.
Photo: CNA
He said that the government should be more alert to the possibility that confidential information could “very easily” be obtained by China via Huawei products.
Saying that Huawei is linked to the People’s Liberation Army, Tsai Huang-liang said that the government should ban the company from participating in public bids.
If the government itself is the biggest buyers of Huawei products, how could the government restrict private companies from buying Huawei products for national security concerns, he added.
“This is our policy now. The NSB has banned using Huawei’s products and thinks other government bureaus should not use the company’s products,” the NSB official added.
Tsai Huang-liang cited government statistics showing that the Investigation Bureau bought 124 sets of Huawei network cards, while the Presidential Office six sets and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications bought 20 Huawei cellphones.
The Mainland Affairs Council bought one set of Huawei’s network cards, but stopped using them after discovering they were produced by Huawei, he added.
The Investigation Bureau responded in a press statement that last year, it applied for a number of cellphone numbers from Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) for agents’ internal communications, but Chunghwa offered network cards produced by Huawei with the numbers.
The Investigation Bureau added that those cellphones were closed-system cellphones used in inner network and could not be connected with the Internet or other networks.
The bureau is not concerned that confidential information could have been leaked by using those public phones, it added.
The Investigation Bureau said that it had no knowledge that the wireless network sticks it acquired from Chunghwa Telecom were manufactured by Huawei at the time of purchase.
“As the products have only been connected to the bureau’s closed internal network, there is no possibility that [confidential national security information] has been leaked,” the bureau said.
At a legislative session earlier yesterday, Tsai Huang-liang presented statistics regarding government agencies’ procurement of communication devices from Huawei in the past year.
The statistics showed that the Investigation Bureau had purchased 124 of Huawei’s E173 multi-mode wireless terminals, the largest number bought by any government agency.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
RSS