A report by the Washington-based Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) warned that Taiwan faces an increasing threat from Chinese espionage and urged the government to impose tougher penalties on those found guilty.
The report, “Chinese Communist Party Covert Operations Against Taiwan,” highlights the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) growing influence operations, and their impact on Taiwan’s security and democracy.
“No other democracy faces the same scale of foreign threat to its integrity and independence as Taiwan,” the report said. “The malign intentions and influence operations directed by the CCP and the threat it poses and harm it causes to Taiwan’s democratic society is real.”
Photo: Reuters
The report said that CCP espionage falls into three major areas — intelligence operations, cyberspace operations and “united front” work.
The GTI recommended that Taiwan implement harsher penalties for espionage.
“Additional sentencing enhancements could be legislated for offenses that have wider political consequences or threaten the wider integrity of the Taiwanese government,” the report said.
The report cited an example in which government officials convicted of national security-related offenses could face heavier sentences if they recruit other officials or military officers into spy rings or connect them with China’s intelligence and “united front” organs.
The report also suggested that Taiwan establish legal frameworks similar to those in the US and the UK, requiring individuals acting on behalf of a foreign entity to register, which would involve publicly disclosing their activities and affiliations to enhance transparency.
The report further recommended criminalizing unregistered agents of foreign powers, adding that in the US, many spies have been prosecuted under this provision.
The burden of proof would be to demonstrate the individual’s actions were directed by a foreign power, not necessarily a threat to national security.
Meanwhile, the think tank recommended that Taiwan strengthen its security vetting through a unified national security clearance system to hold government employees to a higher standard.
The report said that such a system would help different government branches handle sensitive national security matters.
President William Lai (賴清德) earlier this month announced that the government would seek to reinstate the military trial system to handle military-related criminal cases involving active-duty service personnel amid increasing Chinese attempts to infiltrate the military.
Lai’s measures against Chinese espionage also included tightening restrictions on Chinese tourists, Chinese residents and civil servants.
The Mainland Affairs Council yesterday said in response that current national security regulations are indeed insufficient.
The council would continue to examine regulations along with agencies to find out whether there are loopholes that would affect the practical enforcement of law, it said.
Expert opinions from various fields would also be collected to facilitate discussion about legal amendments with national security and public welfare in mind, the council said.
National Taiwan University Department of Political Science associate professor Chen Shih-min (陳世民) said that Taiwan has already been largely infiltrated by China’s “united front” tactics.
Taiwan must develop an awareness of “fighting against China to safeguard Taiwan” that defines Beijing as an enemy, otherwise it would not be able to counter Chinese infiltration, he said.
The government should consider establishing an act governing “external hostile force agents,” following similar examples of the US, Australia or Canada, to impose strict regulations for Beijing’s agents, and stipulate potential contraventions and corresponding penalties, Chen said.
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-fu
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s economy grew far faster than expected in the first quarter, as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove a surge in exports, spilling over into investment and consumption, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. GDP growth was 13.69 percent year-on-year during the January-to-March period, beating the DGBAS’ February forecast by 2.23 percentage points and marking the most robust growth in nearly four decades, DGBAS senior official Chiang Hsin-yi (江心怡) told a news conference in Taipei. The result was powered by exports, which remain the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, Chiang said. Outbound shipments jumped 51.12 percent year-on-year to
RSS