Defense analysts yesterday said that the Chinese army’s top electronic warfare division, “Unit 61398” was behind Wednesday’s onslaught of messages posted by Chinese netizens targeting the Facebook fan page of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
The event was an attack on Tsai under directives given by Unit 61398 to test its cyberwarfare operations, when China’s strict Internet security was eased temporarily to allow access to Facebook on Wednesday, Chinese-language magazine Asia Pacific Defense editor-in-chief Cheng Chi-wen (鄭繼文) said.
Cheng said that during Wednesday’s test period, Chinese netizens could access Facebook through university networks with registered campus accounts, while the Internet firewall remained.
He said that Beijing’s main Internet security wall was the “Golden Shield Program,” which is administered by Unit 61398, based in Pudong, Shanghai.
Under the “Golden Shield Program,” the cyberarmy at Unit 61398 work around the clock to block “unfriendly” Web sites and social media sites, Cheng said.
Unit 61398, operated by the Peoples Liberation Army, has its own “hacker army” allegedly penetrating foreign network sites.
Normally Facebook cannot be accessed from China. However, Unit 61398 was testing the “Golden Shield Program” on Wednesday for a limited period giving access to Facebook via computer networks at a number of major Chinese universities.
It is alleged that coordinated efforts by Chinese netizens to blitz Tsai’s fan page, which amounted to 80,000 critical postings within a short period of time, were a result of this test.
Minister of the Interior Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) said that the police would not investigate the matter, as “it was not a cyberattack and did not involve a breach of Internet security.”
Some media outlets reported that the Facebook breach on Wednesday was due to a glitch in China’s “Great Firewall,” because of the high volume of traffic on many networks on Wednesday Nov. 11, is promoted as “Singles’ Day” in China when discounts are offered to shoppers.
Analysts said that China’s Internet security measures were overwhelmed by online traffic and netizens accessed Facebook and took advantage of the situation to blitz the DPP presidential candidate’s fan page.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS