Taiwan is to go ahead with a plan to create a cyberarmy that is to be the fourth branch of the armed forces, Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) said yesterday.
“This is the main difference in defense policy between the past government and this government. It is important to set up the cyberarmy as the fourth branch of the armed forces,” he told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee in Taipei.
“It is our responsibility to attain this goal,” he said.
In terms of military strategic planning, Feng said the cyberarmy would engage in asymmetric digital warfare and would be a deterrent against enemy forces.
In May last year, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) outlined the formation of a cyberarmy as the fourth branch of the armed forces in its Defense Policy Blue Paper.
The proposal called for the recruitment of cybersecurity experts and young computer professionals on a budget of NT$1 billion (US$30.7 million at today’s exchange rates), employing about 6,000 personnel, and to set up a “cyberarmy command headquarters” that would integrate the functions and resources from ministry-run “communications, electronics and information,” “military intelligence and surveillance,” “digital warfare command” and “communications development” offices.
In other news, Feng was asked about a retired Taiwanese military intelligence officer who went missing in China after being detained by Chinese authorities for questioning on Sunday last week.
Feng said he was not aware of the matter and could not give details.
According to a report in the Chinese-language Next Magazine, former Military Intelligence Bureau officer Teng Ping-chieh (鄧秉傑), 56, was detained by Chinese officials while on a group tour in China’s Jiangsi Province.
His Taiwanese companions on the tour had not heard from him since, the Next Magazine report said.
Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) officials yesterday said that they have been working on Teng’s case after being notified by his family and the Taiwanese travel agency that organized the tour.
The foundation has offered legal assistance, while trying to obtain more information from the Chinese government, it said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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