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.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power
China Airlines Ltd (CAL) yesterday morning joined SkyTeam’s Aviation Challenge for the fourth time, operating a demonstration flight for “net zero carbon emissions” from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Bangkok. The flight used sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at a ratio of up to 40 percent, the highest proportion CAL has achieved to date, the nation’s largest carrier said. Since April, SAF has become available to Taiwanese international carriers at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Kaohsiung International Airport and Taoyuan airport. In previous challenges, CAL operated “net zero carbon emission flights” to Singapore and Japan. At a ceremony at Taoyuan airport, China Airlines chief sustainability
RSS