The Executive Yuan is to release a list of Chinese technology companies whose products are to be barred from being used by government agencies, including Huawei Technologies Co (華為), ZTE Corp (中興通訊) and Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co (杭州海康威視數字技術), a source said.
Huawei is being blacklisted because of its alleged ties to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, ZTE for its alleged involvement in cyberespionage in the US and Hikvision because of the use of its surveillance cameras to monitor Uighurs in Xinjiang, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous.
The government is still deciding whether products manufactured by Lenovo Group (聯想) would be included in the ban, the source said.
Photo: CNA
The Executive Yuan this week began a series of interagency meetings led by Minister Without Portfolio Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) to review the lists proposed by different agencies, the source said.
The process is expected to take two weeks, after which the Executive Yuan is expected to approve a list of banned items at the end of this month, the source said, adding that the Executive Yuan has declined to say how many firms might be affected.
The drafting of the list must be handled carefully, said an aide to Kung, who declined to be named.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Financial Supervisory Commission are among the agencies taking part in the discussions, the source said.
The Executive Yuan on April 19 released guidelines on the use of “products that endanger national cybersecurity” by public agencies.
In related news, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taichung City Councilor Chiang Chao-kuo (江肇國) yesterday said that surveillance cameras manufactured by Hikvision are being used in several underpasses along the city’s Taiwan Boulevard.
He found the cameras at the intersections of the boulevard and Wucyuan, Yingcai, Meichun and Jhongming roads, he wrote on Facebook.
The Taichung Construction Bureau has been installing surveillance systems in underpasses since 2012, he wrote.
It had not originally used Chinese brands, but when the original cameras were damaged, they were replaced with Hikvision cameras as the contract did not specify a brand, he said.
The bureau has promised to cooperate with the Executive Yuan’s proposed ban and to replace the cameras as soon as possible, he said.
The Chinese government is Hikvision’s largest shareholder, Chiang said.
The international community believes there are information security concerns because the company helped the Chinese government set up its “sky eye” surveillance system, he said.
The Taichung City Government must take a “crisis awareness mode” toward Chinese infiltration, he said.
It should check of all of its current equipment, and replace and ban Chinese products that are cause for concern, he said.
DPP Taichung City Councilor Huang Shou-ta (黃守達) previously found Hikvision cameras in the underpasses at the intersections of the boulevard and Mincyuan and Yingcai roads.
He also asked the city government to check all of the city’s surveillance systems.
If items are made by brands that the Executive Yuan lists as banned they cannot remain, Huang said.
Additional reporting by Chang Ching-ya
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