Government agencies are to be banned from using any Chinese electronics from the end of this year, rather than have a “blacklist” of products that must be continually updated, a source within the Executive Yuan said on Saturday.
The Executive Yuan on April 19, 2019, released guidelines on the use of information and communications technology products that might pose a threat to national cybersecurity at public institutions.
The guidelines included plans to publish a list of banned products within three months, but the list has yet to be released.
Photo: Bloomberg
Responding privately to legislators’ concerns over the delay, the Executive Yuan said that it revised the policy by banning all information and communications technology products made by Chinese firms, an Executive Yuan source said on condition of anonymity.
The change was made over concerns about needing to constantly update a list, as well as the difficulty of precisely defining its scope, considering the volume of subsidiary products, the source said.
Federal and local agencies had been instructed to remove all China-made information and communications technology equipment by the end of this year, he said.
Agencies unable to comply must seek approval from the Executive Yuan in a report stating their reasoning and when banned products could be phased out, he added.
The decision is a prudent way to avoid the controversy that can accompany publishing a blacklist, the source said.
Central government agencies had been banned from using equipment made by Huawei Technologies over concerns regarding its links to China’s People’s Liberation Army, but products such as cameras from Hikvision Digital Technology are still widely used due to their competitive pricing, reports have said.
Executive Yuan data released in May showed that 19,256 China-made devices were in use at 2,596 public schools, federal agencies and local governments.
Of these, 717 institutions used 1,848 drones or cameras made by the Shenzhen-based firm Da-Jiang Innovations Technology, the data showed.
Meanwhile, 423 institutions used 1,632 computer networking or recording products from TP-Link Technologies, and 309 agencies or schools used 1,076 camera products from Hikvision, the data showed.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
RSS