Premier Simon Chang (張善政) yesterday said that the abolition of the Taiwan Information Security Center would be the “greatest regret” of his term and accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of failing to understand the matter before making the decision.
The Act for Establishing the National Information Safety Center (國家資通安全科技中心設置條例) was revoked by the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday because of its vagueness on the parameters of the authority granted to the center — only months after its passage and implementation — lawmakers who voted against it said.
Chang yesterday said there is little the Executive Yuan could do now and that it would be up to the pan-green camp to decide what to do next.
“I was only pointing out the seriousness of the issue; information security is part of national security and not something that you should arbitrarily put an end to like child’s play,” Chang said.
Chang said he worked in the field of information security for more than 10 years and believed that positioning the center as an independent administrative institution within the government structure was the most feasible and appropriate move, dismissing criticism that the center was a non-profit corporation, adding that he regrets that the law was abolished “when some of the lawmakers did not even have a clear picture of what it was.”
“The Non-Departmental Public Bodies Act (行政法人法) is exactly the law that would oversee the information security center, an independent administrative institution, just like the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology and the National Theater and Concert Hall, which are also independent administrative institutions,” Chang said.
Chang on Thursday night said in an online interview that the new Cabinet “lacks people who are familiar with [information security],” and based on his observation in the meetings between the outgoing and incoming Cabinet, “they have little understanding of it.”
The new government needs people to delve into the issue, but so far no one has the required background, he said, adding that even if someone is picked for the job now, they would take months before taking real action, adding that this window might provide an opportunity for China to invade.
“The [Chinese] cyberarmies are delighted now, I am telling you,” he said.
Additional Reporting by CNA
FATAL FIRE: The health department is trying to contact the inspector who visited the site of the illegal nursing home to ask why they did not advise follow-up checks The Taipei City Government yesterday said that a health department inspector last year had visited the site of a long-term care facility in Neihu District (內湖) after receiving a report questioning its status. A fire broke out at the facility on Tuesday afternoon, killing three people. The Taipei Fire Department said that it received a report about a fire on the first floor of a four-story residential building on Kangning Road Sec. 1 at 2:38pm on Tuesday, firefighters arrived at 2:43pm and the fire was put out by 3:07pm. The firefighters found three men in beds and rushed them to hospital for
Taipei City Councilor Wang Hao (王浩) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Monday called for security improvements to the MRT, as fare evasion has increased more than 13-fold on the metropolitan railway system over the past five years. Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has spoken out against fare evasion and other contraventions of MRT regulations, but since he took office in 2015 the number of contraventions has more than doubled, Wang said, adding that there were 537 cases in 2015 compared with 959 last year. A video was posted to YouTube in June showing people how to evade paying a fare,
FEELING MISUNDERSTOOD: Media speculation has fueled confusion about the KMT’s reasons for skipping a Chinese forum and delaying an AIT meeting, party sources said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Sunday said that it is not seeking to improve relations with the US or China at the expense of the other, and that its relations with the countries would be topic-based. The party has faced questions over its foreign policy after it on Monday last week announced its withdrawal from the annual Straits Forum and delayed planned talks with the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). The party has also taken a tough stance on the importation of US meat containing ractopamine, while also lambasting China for increasing its military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait. Following
Yuchi Township (魚池) fishers have appealed to the Nantou County Government for help in dealing with an invasive fish species in Sun Moon Lake (日月潭), where it has devastated the local ecosystem. Fishers at Sun Moon Lake have been using electrofishing in an attempt to eliminate the giant snakehead fish — found in Africa and Southeast Asia — but they have struggled to keep up with the growing population of the species, which breeds during September and October, the county government said on Monday. The county has contacted researchers at National Tsing Hua University, saying it hoped they could come up
RSS