An audit of the nation’s public schools found that 1,089 surveillance cameras made by the banned Chinese company Hikvision Digital Technology Co have been used at 16 schools over the past four years, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said yesterday.
The Executive Yuan has yet to release a comprehensive list of banned Chinese products since it pledged to do so nearly one year ago.
That is because the Chinese companies in question have been releasing new products, rendering any such list quickly obsolete, a source said.
Photo: AFP
The Executive Yuan has held interdepartmental meetings to tackle the issue, but failed to reach a consensus, the source said.
One issue is that not all products of some companies pose information security problems, the source said.
The government is concerned that it might cause misconceptions if it banned one or two items from a largely safe manufacturer, the source said.
The Executive Yuan late last month sent a report to the Legislative Yuan about Chinese-made information technology products being used at government agencies.
A majority of the products were made by Hikvision, the report said, adding that a total of 366 devices made by the company were being used by four central government agencies, 15 local government departments and 17 public schools.
A total of 179 of the devices were being used at public schools, the report showed.
However, the ministry’s audit showed that there were 1,089 Hikvision devices on public school campuses — about six times the number reported by the Executive Yuan, the source said.
The finding was particularly worrying for the nation’s information security officials, as Hikvision has close ties with the Chinese government, and its facial recognition technology has been used to suppress China’s Uighur Muslim population, the source said.
A report in July last year by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taichung City Councilor Chiang Chao-kuo (江肇國) on the use of Hikvision cameras in the city’s underpasses was followed by reports of the company’s cameras being used at National Taiwan University, National Sun Yat-sen University and other public schools.
The schools stopped using the cameras after an investigation by the ministry.
However, 13 schools are still using the cameras, citing “no concerns” over the technology, the ministry said, adding that it has written to the schools asking them to stop using the devices to protect students and ensure campus safety.
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