Allegations of misappropriation of public funds by a Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) Research Institute member, surnamed Hsieh (謝), that surfaced on Wednesday snowballed into the possibility of threats to national security yesterday when it emerged the institute had purchased drones linked to a Chinese satellite system.
Affairs regarding national or information security must exclude Chinese businesses and Chinese-manufactured equipment, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
Taipower’s responsibilities — overseeing the nation’s power grid and allotting power to businesses — mandates that it complies with that regulation, much less purchase drones with built-in links to the Chinese Beidou Satellite Navigation System, which is an information security hazard, Lin added.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The system is said to be designed for navigation, but the system reportedly offers two services, one being a navigation system for private use and the other a restricted service to handle China’s and Pakistan’s military communications and location data.
Taipower Research Institute director Koai Kwan-lu (蒯光陸) said the drone purchase was made to solve a problem regarding insulator cleaning, which caused a helicopter to crash in November 2015.
One large machine and two smaller training machines have been ordered in accordance with the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法), Koai said, adding that the large machine would be manufactured by Taiwanese company Avix Technology Inc (田屋科技有限公司).
It will come with equipment that receives data from the US’ GPS network, as well as Russia’s GLONASS and China’s Beidou, Koai said, adding that the company would remove the equipment that enables the machine to receive data from the Beidou system to allay fears of information security leaks.
The equipment Lin referred to is priced at about NT$50,000 and would only be used for training purposes, Koai said.
Avix promised to deliver the larger machine next month, but Taipower would withhold payment until all security concerns have been laid to rest, Koai said.
Homeland Security Office Director Huang Chun-tai (黃俊泰) said government regulations clearly forbid the purchase of all Chinese-manufactured equipment.
Lin on Wednesday said that Hsieh purchased high-end electronics products, including several Apple Inc Macbook computers and iPads, and Sony Corp a7 cameras — unrelated to his research into “smart” electricity meters.
Yesterday, Lin said Hsieh also purchased a Mavic Pro aerial photography drone manufactured by China’s Dajiang Innovation Technology Co (大疆), as well as a router and a wireless network card manufactured by Chinese electronics maker Huawei Technologies Co (華為).
Additional reporting by Lin Chu-han
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