Protective measures are to be implemented this month in the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command, including pseudonyms for personnel, and improving internal and external information control, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday.
China’s Guangzhou City Public Security Bureau on Thursday last week said that it was offering a bounty for 20 people who work for the command for alleged cyberattacks targeting China.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office yesterday said that it would be monitoring all command personnel.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
Taiwanese military experts said that the Ministry of National Defense should reinstate the Military Service Number system, which would decouple military personnel from the national ID system.
Some suspect that a list of command personnel has been leaked to Beijing.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Mei-ling (羅美玲) said that the ease with which Chinese agencies have sourced information on personnel at the command, which should be restricted as stipulated in the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), demonstrated a lack of emphasis on information protection at the command.
Command Chief of Staff Major General Chou Wen-hisang (周文祥) said that the information the Chinese agencies released was cobbled together from public Internet sources and that two-thirds of the people on the list have retired.
In response to questions from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲), Chou said that the command believes the information was sourced from Facebook or job-seeking sites.
The information about personnel at the command above a certain rank is public, Koo said.
The command has measures in place to protect identities, Chou said, adding that the rights and safety of its personnel are ensured.
DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that inaction over China’s claims would embolden China’s “long-arm jurisdiction” and legal warfare tactics.
China’s “united front” rhetoric, as well as other forms of cognitive warfare aided and abetted by pro-Chinese sympathizers in Taiwan, occurs daily, but the ministry has never considered Taiwan to be under China’s jurisdiction, a fact that must be made clear on the international stage, Koo said.
China conducts the most cyberattacks and among the ministry’s core duties is to ensure information and network safety for the military, he said, adding that the ministry would create appropriate protective measures as stipulated by the National Intelligence Services Act.
CLOSURES: Several forest recreation areas have been closed as a precaution, while some ferry and flight services have been suspended or rescheduled A land warning for Tropical Storm Danas was issued last night at 8:30pm, as the storm’s outer bands began bringing heavy rain to southeastern regions, including Hualien and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). As of 9:15pm, the storm was approximately 330km west-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, moving north-northeast at 10-20kph, the CWA reported. A sea warning had already been issued at 8:30am yesterday. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 83kph, with gusts of up to 108kph, according to the CWA. As of 9:30pm last night, Kaohsiung, Tainan,
POWERFUL DETERRENT: Precision fire and dispersed deployment of units would allow Taiwanese artillery to inflict heavy casualties in an invasion, a researcher said The nation’s military has boosted its self-defense capability with the establishment of a new company equipped with the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The company, part of the army’s 58th Artillery Command, is Taiwan’s first HIMARS unit. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who presided over the formation ceremony in Taichung on Friday, called the unit a significant addition to the nation’s defensive strength, saying it would help deter adversaries from starting a war. The unit is made up of top-performing soldiers who received training in the US, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The HIMARS can be equipped with
STRONG WINDS: Without the Central Mountain Range as a shield, people should be ready for high-speed winds, CWA weather forecaster Liu Yu-chi said Danas was yesterday upgraded to a typhoon and could grow stronger as it moves closely along the nation’s west coastline, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Hsinchu and Chiayi cities, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Nantou, Chiayi, Penghu and Pingtung counties have canceled work and school today. Work and school in Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Yilan, Taitung, Hualien, Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties would continue as usual, although offices and schools would be closed in Taoyuan’s Luju (蘆竹), Dayuan (大園), Guangyin (觀音) and Sinwu (新屋) districts. As of 5pm yesterday, the typhoon’s
UNILATERAL: The move from China’s aviation authority comes despite a previous 2015 agreement that any changes to flight paths would be done by consensus The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday slammed Beijing for arbitrarily opening the M503 flight route’s W121 connecting path, saying that such unilateral conduct disrespected the consensus between both sides and could destabilize the Taiwan Strait and the wider region. The condemnation came after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) earlier yesterday announced it “has activated the W121 connecting path of the M503 flight route,” meaning that west-to-east flights are now permitted along the path. The newly activated west-to-east route is intended to “alleviate the pressure caused by the increase of flights,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted China’s Taiwan Affairs Office
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