The military’s top research body yesterday denied any data breach after the Chinese-language Mirror Media Weekly magazine reported that equipment used to calibrate the military’s domestically developed supersonic missile system was found to have been repaired in China.
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology said in a news release that it had sent a theodolite, which it bought in 2021 for use in Hsiung Feng III supersonic missile systems, back to the manufacturer in Switzerland for maintenance after finding it was faulty.
After the repaired theodolite was sent back, the institute found out that the equipment had been sent back to Taiwan from the China’s Shandong Province instead of from Switzerland, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
Asked about the origin of the repaired theodolite, the manufacturer told the institute that it operates a maintenance center in Shandong, at which it conducted the repair, the institute said.
The magazine said that the institute sent two theodolites for repair in Switzerland, one in December 2021 and one in February last year.
The institute’s news release did not specify how many theodolites it had sent to the manufacturer and when it received them back.
The institute said it ran a full-scale information security check on the equipment to ensure that no malware had been installed while it was repaired in China.
This cleared all security concerns, it said.
MEASURES PLANNED
The institute also said that it was discussing measures to ensure that similarly sensitive equipment would not be sent to China for maintenance, citing national security reasons.
A theodolite is a precision optical instrument for measuring angles in specialized applications such as rocket launches.
The institute said that the theodolite it sent to Switzerland is used for launching Hsiung Feng III missiles.
The Hsiung Feng III, the most modern in Taiwan’s Hsiung Feng missile family, is a supersonic anti-ship cruise missile. It was first test-fired in 1997, with further tests conducted in November 2004.
The navy reportedly finished the initial operational test and evaluation in 2005, with the missile system first put on public display in the Double Ten National Day parade in Taipei in 2007.
The missile is believed to have an operating range of 400km with a possible maximum range of more than 1,500km.
It took director Chong Keat Aun (張吉安) nearly a decade to complete Snow in Midsummer (五月雪), a deft chronicle of Malaysia’s May 13 incident told through one woman’s search for her brother and father. Although only his second feature, it led the field at yesterday’s Golden Horse Awards with nine nominations. Chong said it had been a struggle to get people to share their memories of the intercommunal violence following the 1969 national election, known among the country’s ethnic Chinese community as “513.” “My father, for example, would shut the conversation down if my mother or grandma even mentioned the topic,” Chong said
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that a surge in respiratory illnesses in China has been caused by at least seven types of pathogens, and small children, elderly people and immunocompromised people should temporarily avoid unnecessary visits to China. The recent outbreak of respiratory illnesses in China is mainly in the north and among children, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said on Monday. Data released by the Chinese National Health Commission on Sunday showed that among children aged one to four, the main pathogens were influenza viruses and rhinoviruses, while among children aged five to 14, the main pathogens
A new poll of Taiwanese voters found the top opposition candidate for president jumping past the ruling party’s hopeful into the lead position ahead of January’s election — the latest twist in a drama-filled race. Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had an approval rating of 31.9 percent versus 29.2 percent for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the poll released yesterday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed. The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), ranked third with 23.6 percent, according to the survey conducted
A New Taipei City hotpot restaurant could be fined after a rat dropped from the ceiling and landed on a customer’s plate last week, the New Taipei City Department of Health said yesterday after conducting an inspection. A woman recently posted on the “I am a Banciao resident” (我是板橋人) social media group saying that she had been eating with a friend at Chien Tu Shabu Shabu Hotpot Restaurant’s Shuangshi B branch in Banciao District (板橋). “While still eating, a big rat suddenly dropped down from the ceiling, landing on a plate next to a hotpot,” she said. “Later on, a member of
RSS