Any equipment made by Huawei Technologies Co (華為) or ZTE Corp (中興) is to be quickly eliminated after a review of past government procurement cases, Minister Without Portfolio Wu Tze-cheng (吳澤成), who chairs the Public Construction Commission, said yesterday.
Wu made the statement at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which was reviewing the commission’s budget for fiscal 2019.
Taiwan in 2013 banned the use of core telecoms equipment manufactured by Chinese companies, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said on Saturday, after US magazine The National Interest reported on the risks that such equipment could pose to Taiwan’s security.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The magazine cited Kitsch Liao (廖彥棻), a Taiwan-based cybersecurity specialist, as saying that Huawei has built backdoors into its hardware that serve as a dual threat to communications, enabling both espionage and sabotage.
Democratic Progressive Party legislators Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) and Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) asked Wu how the government regulates telecoms’ use of Huawei products.
Cheng said that in 2012 some telecoms were found to be using core network technology built by Huawei.
The National Security Bureau in 2013 said that the Investigation Bureau and Presidential Office had used the company’s wireless network adapters.
The commission should quickly inform telecoms that are involved in government procurement that they are banned from using core equipment made by Huawei and ZTE, Cheng said, adding that telecoms should work with the NCC to dispose of such equipment that is still in use.
The US National Defense Authorization Act bans US government agencies and contractors from using products from Huawei and ZTE, while Australia, India and the UK have similar rules, Cheng said.
Wu said that the Public Construction Commission would do as Cheng asked and would circulate a reminder regarding the regulations.
The Government Procurement Act (政府採購法) stipulates that government agencies can set regulations governing the participation of foreign suppliers in government procurement cases, Wu said.
Separately, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) told a news conference that the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is not using any telecom equipment that is the subject of national security concerns.
The administration has been paying close attention to issues related to information security as have other democratic nations around the world, Huang said.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS