The government needs to draw up countermeasures against China’s 31 incentives, which allow Taiwanese to participate in Beijing’s Thousand Talents Program, academics said, after the US arrested several Chinese-American scientists participating in the program over espionage allegations.
The program, also known as the Recruitment Program of Global Experts, was launched in 2008 to attract overseas talent to boost development in China’s key technologies, the high-tech industry and emerging technologies.
Beijing has so far recruited 8,000 experts and academics through the program.
Photo: CNA
Most of them are ethnic Chinese who receive generous wages and financial benefits, but 33 of them are Taiwanese, government data showed.
The FBI has determined the program to be a key target for investigation, as the US believes that it is closely linked to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), foreign media have reported.
The scientists arrested on suspicion of spying include General Electric Co engineer Zheng Xiaoqing (鄭小清), former Virginia Tech academic Zhang Yiheng (張以恆) and climate scientist Wang Chunzai (王春在).
Foreign governments’ concerns over espionage have prompted Beijing to censor the initiative and bar the use of the term “Thousand Talents Program.”
China’s inclusion of the program into its incentives aims to give Taiwanese experts the illusion that they will have better career opportunities in China, Tamkang University Center of Advanced Technology executive director Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said yesterday.
However, once the technologies they take to China are copied, they are no longer deemed as valuable assets, Su said.
He urged the government to establish a mechanism to track and monitor Taiwanese who have joined the program, and to introduce stricter regulations for people who specialize in sensitive high-tech traveling to China.
As tensions rise between the US and China, anyone associated with Beijing — whether through business or academia — risks being blacklisted by Washington and losing cooperation opportunities in the US, Taipei Medical University’s Center for General Education deputy dean Chang Kuo-cheng (張國城) said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said that full-time faculty members at public and private universities are required to obtain the government’s approval before they can join Beijing’s program.
People who take up a post in China through the program would be dealt with in the same manner as those who assume a position in the Chinese Communist Party or the PLA, and could see their household registration in Taiwan revoked, the council said.
None of the Taiwanese who have joined the program has a full-time post at an educational institution in Taiwan, which means they do not need government approval, the council said, but added that it would continue to monitor them.
The program played a role in former National Central University (NCU) professor Chen Kun-shan’s (陳錕山) defection to China in 2014.
Chen, a remote-sensing specialist, participated in research projects initiated by the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, the Ministry of National Defense’s Communication Development Office and the National Security Bureau.
Chen took part in 102 research projects with a combined funding of NT$520 million (US$16.82 million), Ministry of Science and Technology data show.
Chen was leading a NT$250 million project for the Council of Agriculture when he defected.
NCU had to pay more than NT$100 million in compensation due to reasons caused by his sudden departure.
Intelligence officials said that Chen delivered classified information to China.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,