As Taiwan is engulfed in worries about Chinese infiltration, news reports have revealed that power inverters made by China’s Huawei Technologies Co are used in the solar panels on the top of the Legislative Yuan’s Zhenjiang House (鎮江會館) on Zhenjiang Street in Taipei.
However, what is even more worrying is that Taiwan’s new national electronic identification card (eID) has been subcontracted to the French security firm and eID maker Idemia, which has not only cooperated with the Chinese Public Security Bureau to manufacture eIDs in China, but also makes the new identification cards being issued in Hong Kong.
There might be more Chinese influence in Idemia than in the “red supply chain.”
After a sample of Hong Kong’s new identification card was approved, a Hong Kong technician wrote an article about the strengths and weaknesses of its anti-counterfeiting features.
The technician said that the card maker, Morpho (now Idemia), said on its Web site that it works with China’s Public Security Bureau and provides biometric systems for the Chinese government, immigration agencies and other public offices, and that it is an important player for providers of biometric solutions for immigration control.
According to Idemia’s Web site, Morpho was previously a part of Safran Group, which has a long history of doing business with China. In 2017, Morpho was acquired and renamed Idemia.
Safran’s Web site shows that as early as 2015, Morpho was supplying biometrics, law enforcement equipment and border control systems to the Public Security Bureau. Before that, the company had provided facial recognition systems for Chinese public security authorities in Shanghai, Tianjin and Wenzhou, and the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Guangzhou.
Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) once said: “China is the only country in the world that would like to invade Taiwan. What can we do if we let China handle the new eID manufacturing? The information of all Taiwan’s citizens is here.”
“The printing of ID cards and chip manufacturing must be handled with the strictest caution from a national security perspective,” he also said.
Despite this, the government is covertly subcontracting the production of eIDs to the very manufacturer that makes Hong Kong’s cards and collaborates with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese Public Security Bureau to make biometric control systems and Chinese eIDs.
The government is investigating whether the e-commerce Web site Taobao Taiwan shares its platform with China’s Taobao, but it does not question whether the overseas manufacturer of blank eIDs for Taiwan has any association with the Hong Kong government, the CCP or the Public Security Bureau, or is sharing platforms, systems, programs, technology, information and personnel with them.
At this moment, the risk to the personal information of every Taiwanese is far greater than the threat posed by the red supply chain. The new eID card samples are already available in Taiwan — will the government really just sit back and wait for something to happen?
Chen Yi-nan is convener of the Northern Taiwan Society’s Technology and Environmental Protection Group.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
A 50-year-old on Wednesday last week died while under anesthesia at a Taipei cosmetic clinic shortly after undergoing a penis enlargement procedure. The surgeon was arrested for suspected medical malpractice, again bringing to the surface shortcomings in the regulation of cosmetic medicine. Media reports said the clinic owner and surgeon, surnamed Ting (丁), was previously convicted of negligent homicide for a postsurgical death and had been charged with coercion and aggravated assault after allegedly stopping a patient from calling for an ambulance. He had also been fined for failing inspections and had allegedly permitted people without medical licenses to assist
It was most annoying last week to read Chairman Xi Jinping’s (習近平) fulsome encomium to the People’s Liberation Army during the Eightieth Anniversary celebrations of victory over Japan in World War II. Comrade Xi’s soaring rhetoric was stuffed with “martyrs, sacrifice, solemnity and unwavering resolve” in praise of the “Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.” His aspirations overflowed with “world peace” and love of the United Nations, of which China is a founding member. The Liberation Army Daily said that every word from General Secretary Xi Jinping “resounded in his powerful voice, illuminating the
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will stop at nothing to weaken Taiwan’s sovereignty, going as far as to create complete falsehoods. That the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never ruled Taiwan is an objective fact. To refute this, Beijing has tried to assert “jurisdiction” over Taiwan, pointing to its military exercises around the nation as “proof.” That is an outright lie: If the PRC had jurisdiction over Taiwan, it could simply have issued decrees. Instead, it needs to perform a show of force around the nation to demonstrate its fantasy. Its actions prove the exact opposite of its assertions. A
An American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) spokesperson on Saturday rebuked a Chinese official for mischaracterizing World War II-era agreements as proving that Taiwan was ceded to China. The US Department of State later affirmed that the AIT remarks reflect Washington’s long-standing position: Taiwan’s political status remains undetermined and should only be resolved peacefully. The US would continue supporting Taiwan against military, economic, legal and diplomatic pressure from China, and opposes any unilateral attempt to alter the “status quo,” particularly through coercion or force, the United Daily News cited the department as saying. The remarks followed Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs
RSS