Video-on-demand (VOD) provider Bilibili (嗶哩嗶哩) has become the second Chinese service to draw the attention of security officials after it was found to be renting server space in Taiwan.
The Institute of National Defense and Security Research in April confirmed its findings that China’s largest VOD provider, iQiyi (愛奇藝), which operates in Taiwan, is used by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office as part of Beijing’s “united front” efforts.
Information security consultant Abbygail Wu (吳伊婷) yesterday confirmed that Bilibili rents space on servers in Taiwan owned by Chief Telecom (是方電訊), a subsidiary of Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信).
The National Communications Commission (NCC) is aware of the issue and would require Chief Telecom to cease renting server space to Bilibili, a source said.
Wu said she was motivated to investigate other Chinese VOD services after suspicions about iQiyi arose.
After tracing IP addresses to which Bilibili users in Taiwan connected, she found that they belonged to Chief Telecom, she said, adding that the company likely wanted to use local servers to provide fast connections for Taiwanese users.
Chinese VOD services abound in Taiwan, even though they are not officially allowed to operate in the nation, she said.
The operation of such services contravenes provisions in the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) and is a national security concern, she said.
The Executive Yuan said it is looking into which government agencies should be implicated in the case.
The Mainland Affairs Council said that the issue was a contravention of the act, as Article 40-1 states that Chinese companies may not engage in business activity in Taiwan without the permission of relevant authorities, and Article 34 prohibits the Chinese Communist Party from disseminating political propaganda in Taiwan.
Chief Telecom president Liu Yao-yuan (劉耀元) said that Bilibili is only one of the firm’s content distribution network clients and that the two companies have no direct relationship.
NCC acting spokesperson Hsiao Chi-hung (蕭祈宏) said that the law prohibits Taiwanese telecoms from hosting or distributing content that is deemed a national security threat or breaks any laws.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua and Huang Pei-chun
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the