The National Security Bureau (NSB) yesterday acknowledged the possibility that Chinese service sector businesses could use offices set up in Taiwan for espionage if the cross-strait service trade agreement is implemented.
“As cross-strait exchanges develop further, monitoring the activities of Chinese in Taiwan and their businesses may exceed the NSB’s work capacity in the future and pose a challenge for national security,” National Security Bureau Director Tsai Der-sheng (蔡得勝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee yesterday.
The bureau said that if the pact’s effects see it stretched too thin, an influx of Chinese service sector workers could be a national security risk, but added that it is working on a regulatory mechanism targeting “major, specific” individuals and organizations that could pose a threat to Taiwan.
The bureau also said it has conducted an item-by-item review of security-related issues in the 64 domestic service sectors that would be opened up to Chinese investment and competition.
“We plan to carry out more risk management studies, since the continuing expansion of cross-strait ties could compromise national security and create additional risk. My stance is that we carry out extensive risk analyses as we deepen exchanges with China,” Tsai said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) said the bureau is concerned about the effects the cross-strait trade deal may have on Taiwan’s security, but has refrained from saying so for fear of contradicting President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
At yesterday’s meeting, Chiu asked if government officials know who owns the SF Express (順豐快遞) delivery service, which has started operating in Taiwan, and Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Bill Cho (卓士昭) responded that the company is funded solely by a Hong Kong citizen.
Chiu replied that SF Express is owned by Wang Wei (王衛), who has applied for Chinese citizenship and became a Shenzhen City resident in 2012.
She added that in August last year, two state-run Chinese firms became shareholders in SF Express, effectively making the delivery company a Beijing-funded enterprise.
Cho insisted that the head of SF Express’ Taiwan branch is Wang’s wife, who is a Hong Kong citizen, to which Chiu said: “This is exactly what the public is worried about: China-funded businesses entering Taiwan disguised as Hong Kong-funded or domestic firms, while the government either turns a blind eye to or fails to control them.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a report that the NSB on April 11 joined the Investment Commission responsible for reviewing foreign investment projects.
The change allows NSB officials to participate in the review of all foreign investments, whereas before, this was the case only when Chinese investors were involved or when the bureau’s participation was deemed necessary, Cho said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
Democratic nations should refrain from attending China’s upcoming large-scale military parade, which Beijing could use to sow discord among democracies, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) said. China is scheduled to stage the parade on Wednesday next week to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The event is expected to mobilize tens of thousands of participants and prominently showcase China’s military hardware. Speaking at a symposium in Taichung on Thursday, Shen said that Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) recently met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to New Delhi.
FINANCES: The KMT plan to halt pension cuts could bankrupt the pension fund years earlier, undermining intergenerational fairness, a Ministry of Civil Service report said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ proposal to amend the law to halt pension cuts for civil servants, teachers and military personnel could accelerate the depletion of the Public Service Pension Fund by four to five years, a Ministry of Civil Service report said. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Aug. 14 said that the Act Governing Civil Servants’ Retirement, Discharge and Pensions (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法) should be amended, adding that changes could begin as soon as after Saturday’s recall and referendum. In a written report to the Legislative Yuan, the ministry said that the fund already faces a severe imbalance between revenue