The Chinese Cyberspace Administration on July 9 ordered all app stores in the country to stop offering 25 apps owned and operated by Beijing Xiaoju Technology Co, the parent company of ride-hailing and vehicle rental operator Didi Chuxing.
Most observers believe that Beijing ordered the investigation into Didi because the company collects large amounts of data and travel information about the Chinese public — which of course includes important members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as well as the Chinese government and military — and because Didi had a few days earlier gone public on the New York Stock Exchange, stoking fears that the data might get into the hands of Western governments and harm China’s national security.
However, while observers worry about China’s tightening control over private enterprises and online public opinion, they largely overlook a potential threat to Taiwan’s information security due to Taiwanese residents of China and Chinese-invested Taiwanese firms.
Data published in 2016 showed that there were about 2 million Taiwanese employees, students, family members and businesspeople living and working in China.
It is hard to find precise figures for more recent years, but it is unlikely that the numbers have changed significantly.
The events surrounding Didi show how the Chinese government might be collecting and using people’s “digital footprints,” including identity information, nationality, conversations, cellphone positioning, facial data, address, birth date, taxi-hailing records and payments, and that the leaking of Taiwanese residents’ data might affect their personal safety, as well as Taiwan’s national security.
In democratic countries that emphasize the rule of law, companies must provide a high level of protection for personal information that they collect for business purposes.
If authorities in those states need to obtain such confidential information for criminal investigations or national security reasons, they must request them under strict requirements and go through rigorous procedures.
There is no clear evidence that Didi is endangering China’s national security, and Didi vice president Li Min (李敏) has said that all Chinese users’ data are stored on servers in China, which are not accessable from the US.
However, in a country where the CCP controls everything, authorities are determined to pursue the case against Didi.
As well as Taiwanese living and working in China, many Chinese companies have over the past few years entered the Taiwanese market, through investment, mergers, acquisitions and cooperation. Personal data collected by these companies is very likely to find its way into the hands of the Chinese government.
The Financial Times on March 16 reported that some Chinese companies had tried to bypass the privacy regulations of Apple Inc’s iOS, and that the company responded by warning that it would remove all noncompliant apps from its app store.
Meanwhile, there have been numerous instances of Chinese apps secretly collecting personal data, and integrating it with Chinese government and police data.
“Cybersecurity is national security” is the viewpoint from which Taiwan should see the events surrounding Didi, and the government should respond with appropriate countermeasures.
Kung Hsien-tai is the director of Taiwan Financial Holdings Group’s ethics department.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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