President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday praised the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) for safeguarding Taiwan’s national security against China’s infiltration and espionage tactics, as well as its efforts fighting financial fraud, money laundering and illegal drugs.
At the bureau’s graduation ceremony, Tsai spoke about cross-strait relations and external threats.
She presided over the ceremony, which Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥), National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General David Lee (李大維), Prosecutor-General Chiang Hui-ming (江惠民) and NSC senior adviser Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) also attended.
Photo: CNA
“Unlike other law-enforcement agencies, the bureau, besides tackling the major crimes, also plays a very important role protecting our national security,” she said.
“When facing new forms of infiltration and threats, we are very much reliant on the bureau’s work to maintain our society’s stability, as well as public safety,” she said.
Taiwan welcomes and receives about 3 million visitors from China each year, “but we cannot ignore the fact that some of them are taking advantage of Taiwan’s freedom and democracy to undermine our nation,” the president said.
“They have used their participation and interaction at functions and events as a cover to collect intelligence, recruit people to conduct espionage activities and develop spy networks in Taiwan,” she said.
Bureau officials said that they investigated 52 Chinese espionage cases and arrested 174 people just last year, Tsai Ing-wen said.
“While each of these cases represented a threat to Taiwan, they showed how bureau officers have every time endeavored to successfully defend and safeguard our nation,” she said.
“On behalf of our nation, I give my gratitude to you for these diligent efforts,” she added.
Tsai Ing-wen also commended the bureau for combating economic crimes, such as the illegal transfer of business assets, financial fraud and commercial espionage, which could impair the nation’s international competitiveness.
Officials said that among the bureau’s other priorities was its campaign, which targeted the sources of illegal drugs.
Up until October last year, 19 factories were found producing narcotics, and the bureau seized 15,000 tonnes of illegal drugs, the officials said.
Tsai Ing-wen also thanked the bureau for its work negotiating and signing collaboration agreements and memorandums of understanding with other countries, as well as helping to crack major criminal cases in cooperation with authorities from other countries.
She said that thanks in part to the bureau’s work, in November last year the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering acknowledged Taiwan’s progress in using financial intelligence to fight money laundering.
The president asked the officers who had just graduated to remember all of these achievements and model their working career on them.
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