Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed an amendment to the National Security Act (國家安全法) that would increase the minimum punishments for treason.
Article 7 of the act states that “any person, who intends to endanger national security or social stability and commits an offense” such as espionage or the sharing of national secrets with a foreign force would face up to seven years in prison and a fine of NT$50 million to NT$100 million (US$1.56 million to US$3.12 million).
Chen proposed increasing the minimum prison term to 10 years and the minimum fine to NT$100 million to deter those who would spy on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The amendment would also increase the maximum fine to NT$200 million.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
He also proposed expanding the scope of information-sharing that would be considered a crime in the act.
Article 2 currently lists “confidential documents, drawings, images, messages, articles or electromagnetic records that are for official use.”
That should be expanded to include items that “should be kept secret for national security or public interests,” Chen said.
He also proposed amending the National Intelligence Service Act (國家情報工作法) to require the establishment of specialized national security courts to be handled by judges with professional knowledge related to national security.
The judges would receive a certain number of hours of national security-related training, and would undergo annual courses, he said.
Separately, DPP Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) and others proposed a draft amendment to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) that would require the revocation of long-term residency rights of Chinese spouses found to present a national security risk.
Under the proposal, those found to have committed offenses of civil strife or foreign aggression as stipulated in the Criminal Code would be deported.
However, those deemed to present a national security risk, but who have not committed any crime, would only have their long-term residency rights revoked and would be permitted to remain in Taiwan as a dependent of their spouse.
Crimes to which the amended measures would apply would include developing organizations for the CCP or stealing business secrets from companies producing core technologies, as stipulated in the National Security Act, Shen said.
The measures would also apply to those who have contravened the National Intelligence Service Act by delivering confidential information to China, and those who have breached the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) by intervening in election activities and have been prosecuted, or received deferred prosecution, he said.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
BIG SPENDERS: Foreign investors bought the most Taiwan equities since 2005, signaling confidence that an AI boom would continue to benefit chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market capitalization swelled to US$2 trillion for the first time following a 4.25 percent rally in its American depositary receipts (ADR) overnight, putting the world’s biggest contract chipmaker sixth on the list of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization, just behind Amazon.com Inc. The site CompaniesMarketcap.com ranked TSMC ahead of Saudi Aramco and Meta Platforms Inc. The Taiwanese company’s ADRs on Tuesday surged to US$385.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, as strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications led to chip supply constraints and boost revenue growth to record-breaking levels. Each TSMC ADR represents
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS