The nation’s high-tech sector is under serious threat of industrial espionage as Chinese intelligence operatives target local companies for infiltration and collection of proprietary information, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Yang Kuo-chiang (楊國強) told legislators yesterday.
Yang made the remarks during a question-and-answer session at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting.
New Power Party Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) said he has grave concerns over Chinese espionage operations, because there have been numerous cases involving Chinese spies luring members of the nation’s armed forces into leaking classified military information.
Photo: CNA
“In addition to our military, which Taiwanese industries have been most seriously affected by Chinese spy infiltration?” Lim asked. “I would like to know, because I want these businesses to be alert to this danger so they can be more careful when hiring new workers.”
Yang said that the semiconductor and other tech sectors are the most likely targets.
Lim said that these sectors are key to the nation’s economy, and “yet President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wants to open up the nation’s technology sector for investment by Chinese business. This is just absurd.”
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that Yang and the bureau should block bids by Chinese investors and companies to buy out Taiwanese tech businesses.
Wang was referring to the Investment Commission, which is tasked with the review, assessment and monitoring of foreign investment, and where the bureau has a representative seat.
He said the semiconductor sector is a pillar of the nation’s economy and the bureau should veto investment applications from China.
“Taiwan is a leader in IC design and we must not allow know-how and proprietary technology to be taken over by China. It is well-known that most large Chinese businesses are backed by financial capital from the Chinese government,” Wang said.
“So this is a national security issue and a serious threat to Taiwan’s economic development. Therefore, the NSB must not permit Chinese investment in the IC sector,” he added.
DPP Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) also asked Yang about the potential impact on cross-strait ties if China is not satisfied with president-elect Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) inauguration speech on May 20.
Yang said Beijing might shut down existing negotiation channels, prohibit Chinese tourists from visiting Taiwan, or take diplomatic action if it is unhappy with Tsai’s speech, Yang said.
The president would have to work with other senior government officials to make a response should China take any of the above three actions against Taiwan, Yang said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
RSS