A top US think tank has listed Taiwan’s telecommunications companies among other trusted networks in a US State Department initiative to develop safe 5G communications.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on April 29 announced the US’ requirement for a “5G clean path ... that does not use any transmission, control, computing or storage equipment from untrusted IT vendors, such as Huawei and ZTE, which are required to comply with directives of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Pompeo also said that only systems and networks accredited as “5G Clean Networks” by US think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) would be allowed to interface with US government computer systems.
Distrust of China is growing in Washington. Most recent examples, including the US’ closure of China’s Houston consulate — followed by China’s retaliatory closure of the US consulate in Chengdu — and the exclusion of Chinese firms from the US’ trusted networks list, signal that the relationship will not improve in the short term. However, the inclusion of Taiwanese companies indicates improving Taiwan-US ties and the trust that the US places in Taiwanese technology. Taiwan must seize this opportunity to provide 5G network software and equipment to the US and other trusted nations.
A closed network of trusted nations would offer Taiwan the opportunity to participate in intelligence sharing. For example, the “Five Eyes” nations — an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US — have all banned Chinese technology from their 5G infrastructure and are on the US’ clean networks list.
The “Five Eyes” group has worked with other nations on specific intelligence-gathering projects, and has since 2018 been working with France, Germany and Japan to counter threats from China and Russia. Inviting Taiwan to join might prove invaluable, given its history in defending against threats from China.
With 5G military applications, the strategic importance of Taiwan and the US’ interest in working more closely with the Taiwanese military — the new US National Defense Authorization Act includes provisions for supporting Taiwan’s armed forces and US Representative Ted Yoho has written a draft Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act — Taiwan’s 5G network is of even greater importance.
Venezuela’s Telesur network on Dec. 21 last year reported that 5G would play a key role in future military conflicts.
“Military experts foresee that the 5G system will play an essential role for the use of hypersonic weapons... In order to guide them on variable trajectories, changing direction in a fraction of a second to avoid interceptor missiles, it is necessary to gather, elaborate and transmit enormous quantities of data in a very short time,” an article published on the network’s English-language Web site said.
Taiwan could hold annual symposiums on 5G technology, allowing industry professionals to share ideas for network improvements, as well as work out trade relationships and partnerships. Military and intelligence officials from trusted nations could take advantage of networking with their Taiwanese counterparts. The symposium could be in conjunction with the nation’s annual computer and technology trade show, Computex Taipei.
Since Taiwan is a small but technologically advanced nation, it is easier to deploy and test a new network here than it is, for example, in an expansive and sparsely populated nation like Canada. International companies could partner with local telecoms to test network upgrades in Taiwan.
Taiwan will be an increasingly important partner for like-minded democracies, in terms of both technology and strategical interests. The CSIS’ trusted networks list shows Taiwan is a welcome partner, so the government must act on this.
On Sept. 3 in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) rolled out a parade of new weapons in PLA service that threaten Taiwan — some of that Taiwan is addressing with added and new military investments and some of which it cannot, having to rely on the initiative of allies like the United States. The CCP’s goal of replacing US leadership on the global stage was advanced by the military parade, but also by China hosting in Tianjin an August 31-Sept. 1 summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which since 2001 has specialized
The narrative surrounding Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attendance at last week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit — where he held hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin and chatted amiably with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — was widely framed as a signal of Modi distancing himself from the US and edging closer to regional autocrats. It was depicted as Modi reacting to the levying of high US tariffs, burying the hatchet over border disputes with China, and heralding less engagement with the Quadrilateral Security dialogue (Quad) composed of the US, India, Japan and Australia. With Modi in China for the
A large part of the discourse about Taiwan as a sovereign, independent nation has centered on conventions of international law and international agreements between outside powers — such as between the US, UK, Russia, the Republic of China (ROC) and Japan at the end of World War II, and between the US and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since recognition of the PRC as the sole representative of China at the UN. Internationally, the narrative on the PRC and Taiwan has changed considerably since the days of the first term of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic
A report by the US-based Jamestown Foundation on Tuesday last week warned that China is operating illegal oil drilling inside Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Island (Dongsha, 東沙群島), marking a sharp escalation in Beijing’s “gray zone” tactics. The report said that, starting in July, state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp installed 12 permanent or semi-permanent oil rig structures and dozens of associated ships deep inside Taiwan’s EEZ about 48km from the restricted waters of Pratas Island in the northeast of the South China Sea, islands that are home to a Taiwanese garrison. The rigs not only typify
RSS