The Hsinchu District Prosec-utors' Office (新竹地檢署) said yesterday that it is trying to identify the person who received the e-mail messages suspected of containing classified information on 12-inch wafer-manufacturing technology sent by a former manager at Taiwan Semi-conductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電).
According investigators, Liu Yun-chien (劉芸茜), the former manager, sent out eleven e-mail messages containing classified chip technology to a senior officer at the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯國際集成電路) in Shanghai and asked the officer to transfer this information to an unidentified person called "Michael" between November, 2000 and January last year.
Liu resigned from her position at the TSMC and was hired as a senior consultant at SMIC in February last year.
Prosecutors said they haven't figured out the identities of the senior officer at SMIC or "Michael."
SMIC is run by Taiwan's Ri-chard Chang (
Chang denied that the company was involved in the case or took advantage of stolen secrets. He also said that SMIC will provide help during the investigation if necessary.
TSMC discovered that Liu was allegedly leaking classified information to another Chinese competitor, reported the case to the National Police Administration's Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB, 刑事局) in January last year, and officially filed a suit against Liu in June last year.
However, the company denied that the leaked information related to 12-inch wafer technology and claimed that it was just trying to protect its intellectual property by suing its former employee for stealing business secrets and trading them with another company.
The Hsinchu District Pros-ecutors' Office took over the case from the CIB and began to investigate the matter last Wednesday.
Prosecutors still did not officially confirm whether the leaked information concerned advanced 12-inch wafer technology.
In the meantime, prosecutors said they have sent out a summons to Liu's Hsinchu home.
Liu, however, returned to her Shanghai job immediately following the Lunar New Year holiday last month.
"CIB officers interviewed Liu before she left," said Lo Hsueh-mei (羅雪梅), the spokeswoman for the Hsinchu District Prosecutors' Office.
"However, that interview didn't really help clarify questions on the case. That was why we decided to summon her again."
The spokeswoman said that Liu will be put on the most wanted list if she fails to contact prosecutors or the police.
Under the law, a summoned person must report to police, prosecutors or judges by the specified date. If the summoned person is unable to physically show up, a lawyer will be able to represent that person, complete the legal process and ask for an excused absence from the prosecutors or judges.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard