White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, who is US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, on Feb. 28 lost his “top secret/sensitive compartmented information-level” security clearance.
The US has a rigorous security clearance system that applies to all personnel with important duties related to national security — not only government personnel, but also those working in major defense-related private companies, such as those dealing with aerospace and sensitive technology.
When they return from overseas trips, they must report in detail about whom they met and what they talked about. If they lie about these things, they might be sacked and, in serious cases, tried and convicted.
Also on Feb. 28, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office announced a package of 31 “favorable measures for Taiwanese” applying to areas such as investment, tax concessions, finance, education, culture, film, television, healthcare and philanthropy.
Although China paints these measures as “favorable for Taiwanese,” it has ulterior motives.
As Premier William Lai (賴清德) said: “The ultimate goal is to annex Taiwan.”
This is a big move by China that will affect Taiwan’s long-term development, so the government and public must work out suitable and effective countermeasures.
The main point of China’s measures is to attract talented people from Taiwan, especially in the fields of education — students and teachers — culture, film, television and healthcare.
By so doing, China aims to cultivate an “army of ants” to infiltrate Taiwan, ready for the day when it launches an attack.
Therefore, the government should establish a security clearance system similar to that in the US, so that students and people working in the fields of education, culture, film and television who are tempted to go to China would know that they would eventually have to obtain security clearance in Taiwan.
If Taiwan establishes a security clearance system, it should include the following three points:
First, when someone who has studied, taught or done cultural, film or television work or other social or commercial activities in China returns to Taiwan to study or work in those fields, they must obtain state security clearance and honestly report on their work and activities in China.
Second, if someone who is studying or teaching, or engaging in cultural, film or television work or other social or commercial activities in China slanders Taiwan or does anything to harm its sovereignty, they must be barred from ministerial and vice-ministerial posts; and chairmanship, board membership, presidency or vice presidency of defense-related companies and those engaged in sensitive technology.
Third, anyone who takes part in or directs anti-Taiwan movements while studying, teaching, or doing cultural, film or television work or other social or commercial activities in China must be barred from being the chief or deputy chief of government departments or of companies dealing with sensitive technology and other major companies.
Furthermore, they should, depending on the circumstances, be prosecuted for their traitorous actions, with no time limit for prosecution.
A security clearance system would be the first line of defense against China’s efforts to absorb Taiwan through its “favorable measures.”
If even a superpower such as the US has such a line of defense, then Taiwan, which is directly threatened by China, needs it even more, and it would be a more effective way of retaining talent than relaxing laws and regulations.
Huang Tien-lin is a national policy adviser.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
In the 2022 book Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, academics Hal Brands and Michael Beckley warned, against conventional wisdom, that it was not a rising China that the US and its allies had to fear, but a declining China. This is because “peaking powers” — nations at the peak of their relative power and staring over the precipice of decline — are particularly dangerous, as they might believe they only have a narrow window of opportunity to grab what they can before decline sets in, they said. The tailwinds that propelled China’s spectacular economic rise over the past