The Ministry of Justice has become aware of “external forces” paying Internet streamers to make false statements in an attempt to influence November’s nine-in-one elections, Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said yesterday.
Tsai made the remarks in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), the contents of which were aired yesterday.
The ministry is continuing to monitor such behavior and would strive to combat cognitive warfare tactics, he said.
Photo: screen grab from Guan Wo Shenme Shi
Attempts to influence Taiwanese politics by giving Internet personalities and streamers money and having them spread false information is a new tactic, Tsai said.
“External forces have been known to use a variety of methods to influence Taiwanese politics,” such as subsidizing a particular group or candidate through Taiwanese businesspeople, or exerting influence over local temples to have them persuade local residents to vote for certain candidates, he said.
Other methods have involved Chinese spouses in Taiwan and underground banking institutions offering voters all-expenses-paid trips to China, he added.
Tsai said that he places great emphasis on national security and because of this, he has arranged for prosecutors to attend seminars by national security experts so that they can prosecute cases involving national security issues based on what is best for protecting Taiwan.
The ministry has also drafted an amendment to the National Security Act (國家安全法) that would send criminal cases involving people or organizations nominally controlled by a foreign power, China, Hong Kong or Macau straight to the second appellate court, Tsai said.
The amendment would also make corporate espionage a criminal act, as well as leaking the nation’s core technological secrets to foreign assets, he said.
The technology sector is an important asset for Taiwan and crucial to its national security, he added.
While local elections have always been the most prone to corruption, modern technology can spread false information swiftly, an issue the ministry must seek to control, Tsai said.
“We aren’t ruling out the possibility of external forces utilizing modern technology, such as e-wallets and blockchain technology, to facilitate such payments,” he said, adding that the ministry would also be monitoring the spread of false information and nip it in the bud.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
RSS