A top national security official yesterday said the government should restrict Chinese investment in domestic information and communications infrastructure concerning national security.
“Even the high-tech US placed restrictions on Huawei [China’s Huawei Technologies Co] and so based on national security, the National Security Bureau supports placing some kind of restrictions and limitations on Chinese investment in key information and communications infrastructure,” National Security Bureau (NSB) Director Tsai Der-sheng (蔡得勝) said as he answered questions from legislators at a Foreign and National Defense Committee meeting.
Tsai added that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has never eased its hostility to Taiwan.
“If Taiwan wants to develop economic exchanges with China, it should be capable of controlling them,” he said.
The committee passed a resolution in the meeting, announcing that now that several countries, including Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and India, have either barred Chinese companies from investing or are applying strict standards in their reviews of projects involving Chinese companies, the bureau should work with the Ministry of National Defense (MND) and other government bureaus to provide a report to the legislature before May on restrictions for Chinese companies investment, adding that the report should be a comprehensive evaluation that would guide policy.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) asked whether telecommunications systems used by the bureau could be compromised by Chinese telecommunications companies, such as Huawei.
Tsai said he believed national security officials should be banned from using cellphones in sensitive meetings or occasions. The bureau adopts a confidential cellphone system that was developed by the bureau and Acer Inc. The system has several security functions that could ensure communications were not compromised, the official added.
A US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee report earlier this month said that, due to security concerns, Huawei and ZTE should be blocked from mergers, takeovers and acquisitions in the US and advised US entities against doing businesses with the companies.
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) then said that despite the US warning, Taiwan was considering opening Type I telecommunications enterprises to Chinese investment.
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
Taiwan must first strengthen its own national defense to deter a potential invasion by China as cross-strait tensions continue to rise, multiple European lawmakers said on Friday. In a media interview in Taipei marking the conclusion of an eight-member European parliamentary delegation’s six-day visit to Taiwan, the lawmakers urged Taipei to remain vigilant and increase defense spending. “All those who claim they want to protect you actually want to conquer you,” Ukrainian lawmaker Serhii Soboliev said when asked what lessons Taiwan could draw from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Soboliev described the Kremlin as a “new fascist Nazi regime” that justified
RSS