Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has called for the swift passage of revisions to laws mandating tougher punishments to prevent China from stealing Taiwan’s chip technology, saying the threat from the “red supply chain” needed an effective deterrence.
In February, the Cabinet proposed toughening the rules amid rising concern that Beijing is stepping up its economic espionage.
Home to industry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and accounting for 92 percent of the world’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturing capacity, Taiwan possesses what China needs — chip expertise in spades.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
Chips made by Taiwan are used in everything from fighter jets to mobile phones, and the government has long worried about Chinese efforts to copy that success, including through economic espionage, poaching talent and other methods.
Su told a Cabinet meeting last week that the “red supply chain” was using various methods to “infiltrate” Taiwan, take its talent and steal its technology.
Law enforcement agencies need to work together to crack down and investigate, he added.
Su said he had asked the Ministry of Justice to work with the Legislative Yuan to ensure the revisions to the law proposed in February were passed “at the earliest date.”
Other agencies, including the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Mainland Affairs Council, need to raise penalties for Chinese firms masquerading as Taiwanese ones to poach talent “in order to have a deterrence effect,” he added.
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