Defense analysts yesterday said that the Chinese army’s top electronic warfare division, “Unit 61398” was behind Wednesday’s onslaught of messages posted by Chinese netizens targeting the Facebook fan page of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
The event was an attack on Tsai under directives given by Unit 61398 to test its cyberwarfare operations, when China’s strict Internet security was eased temporarily to allow access to Facebook on Wednesday, Chinese-language magazine Asia Pacific Defense editor-in-chief Cheng Chi-wen (鄭繼文) said.
Cheng said that during Wednesday’s test period, Chinese netizens could access Facebook through university networks with registered campus accounts, while the Internet firewall remained.
He said that Beijing’s main Internet security wall was the “Golden Shield Program,” which is administered by Unit 61398, based in Pudong, Shanghai.
Under the “Golden Shield Program,” the cyberarmy at Unit 61398 work around the clock to block “unfriendly” Web sites and social media sites, Cheng said.
Unit 61398, operated by the Peoples Liberation Army, has its own “hacker army” allegedly penetrating foreign network sites.
Normally Facebook cannot be accessed from China. However, Unit 61398 was testing the “Golden Shield Program” on Wednesday for a limited period giving access to Facebook via computer networks at a number of major Chinese universities.
It is alleged that coordinated efforts by Chinese netizens to blitz Tsai’s fan page, which amounted to 80,000 critical postings within a short period of time, were a result of this test.
Minister of the Interior Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) said that the police would not investigate the matter, as “it was not a cyberattack and did not involve a breach of Internet security.”
Some media outlets reported that the Facebook breach on Wednesday was due to a glitch in China’s “Great Firewall,” because of the high volume of traffic on many networks on Wednesday Nov. 11, is promoted as “Singles’ Day” in China when discounts are offered to shoppers.
Analysts said that China’s Internet security measures were overwhelmed by online traffic and netizens accessed Facebook and took advantage of the situation to blitz the DPP presidential candidate’s fan page.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to