Taiwan is facing severe national security threats due to enemy infiltration and espionage activities inside the legislature, Chinese funding to meddle in elections and influence politicians, and lawmakers colluding to slash the government’s fiscal budget and blocking bills to enhance safeguards for Taiwanese sovereignty, Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) said yesterday.
Unlike the US’ bicameral congress, Taiwan has a unicameral legislature, placing national sovereignty at a greater risk, “because all legislative bills, government budgets and top official appointments need only to be approved by [a single-house] legislature, and when it is involved in a security breach, the government and society as a whole are in danger,” CCW director Chang Hung-Lin (張宏林) told a news conference in Taipei.
“This past year, we saw two opposition parties acting to betray the interests of this country and its people... We also have had multiple cases of infiltration targeting lawmakers and their aides to spy for China,” Chang said.
Photo: Fang Bin-chao, Taipei Times
CCW’s main work is to monitor and evaluate the performance of lawmakers, but the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have refused to cooperate, he said.
CCW executives listed eight major national security crises in Taiwan’s legislative system: enemy infiltration into lawmakers’ offices and their aides to spy for China; disinformation campaigns to sow conflict in the legislature; Chinese money being channeled into Taiwan to interfere in elections and buy influence; courts handing out too lenient sentences on Chinese espionage cases; too few legislators speaking up for Taiwanese sovereignty; opposition parties slashing budgets to paralyze the ruling party; a lack of awareness and safeguards for information security in the legislature; and failure to stop leaks of classified information during legislative meetings to discuss military affairs, weapons procurement and national security issues.
CCW chairman Tseng Chien-yuan (曾建元) presented a “list of worst legislators” whose actions have undermined national security and betrayed Taiwan’s interests by using legislative procedures and underhanded ploys to impede the progress of important bills to boost defense spending and safeguard Taiwan from Chinese infiltration and leaking of state secrets.
Topping the list is KMT Legislator Lin Shih-ming (林思銘), who blocked 124 national security-related bills this legislative session.
TPP legislators Lin Kuo-cheng (林國成) and Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) tied for second place, as both blocked 110 national security-related bills, while KMT Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) placed fourth for blocking 41 such bills.
They were followed in descending order by KMT Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇), who blocked 25 similar bills, and three KMT legislators-at-large — Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲), Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲) and Lin Chien-chi (林倩綺), who blocked 24, 23 and 23 such bills respectively, Tseng said.
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
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
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 drone exports surged past US$100 million in the first quarter, exceeding last year’s full-year total, with the Czech Republic emerging as the largest buyer, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Exports of complete drones reached US$115.85 million in the period, about 1.2 times the total recorded for all of last year, the ministry said in a report. Exports to the Czech Republic accounted for about US$100 million, far outpacing other markets. Poland, last year’s top destination, recorded about US$11.75 million in the first quarter. Taiwan’s drone exports have expanded rapidly in the past few years, with last year’s total
RSS