National Security Bureau Director Tsai Der-sheng (蔡得勝) yesterday contradicted a statement made by Minister of National Defense Yen Ming (嚴明) on how long the country could withstand a Chinese attack.
Yen had said last week that Taiwan could survive “at least one month,” should China invade, without help from the US, adding the estimate was based on conclusions drawn from various war games.
Tsai was responding a request from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chien Tung-ming (簡東明) at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee yesterday to comment on Yen’s remarks.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
“The Ministry of National Defense has a better understanding of the military strength of both sides, so it said Taiwan’s military will be able to withstand a Chinese attack for one month. Yet whether the nation is capable of resisting for a month depends on the public’s will to resist an invasion. If everyone wants to leave, [Taiwan] might not be able to withstand for a month,” Tsai said.
He added that modern warfare proceeds very quickly, unlike during World War I or World War II.
Meanwhile, regarding the Legislative Yuan’s review of the cross-strait services trade agreement that is slated to begin tomorrow, Tsai yesterday said that any increased cross-strait interaction runs the risk of compromising national security, as China would attempt to infiltrate Taiwan.
However, he added that the bureau has already made a security assessment last month and taken necessary precautions with all related government agencies, but that the risks were minimal.
The assessment was sent to the Legislative Yuan last week, he added.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said that 784 Chinese are known to have overstayed their visas, with the number of illegal Chinese in the country coming to more than 1,000 if those smuggled in were also included.
These Chinese are in every part of the country, and pose considerable risk to society and national security, Tsai Huang-liang said.
When asked by if the bureau could get an accurate number on Chinese in Taiwan, Tsai Der-sheng said that if the bureau did not know the whereabouts of a Chinese national, then it did not keep tabs on them.
“We will attempt to find out their location and residence to do our best at maintaining security,” Tsai Der-sheng said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS