National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday told lawmakers that Taiwan must harden its undersea cables, but refrained from accusing Beijing of sabotaging the lines.
Tsai made the remarks during a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee in Taipei after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) asked the NSB head whether the cutting of the cables linking Taiwan proper to Lienchiang County (Matsu), which occurred multiple times last year, were accidents or acts of sabotage.
Several Washington-based think tanks have suggested that Beijing might have deliberately targeted the cables, as the damaged lines were in shallow depths of 30m to 100m, Hung said.
Photo: Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The cables were on the main belt of China’s “gray zone” activities, making the case for sabotage more likely, he said.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs did not include the cables in its list of critical infrastructure, he said, adding that items on the list are to undergo regular threat evaluations and defensive drills, and be protected by robust alert systems.
Hung then asked Tsai if the NSB was taking steps to protect the undersea cables.
Although the lines were cut 20 times last year, an unusually high number of incidents, the bureau is not prepared to declare the episodes malicious actions, as intentionality could not be proven without a thorough analysis of ship movements in the area during the events, Tsai said.
Taiwan operates 14 international undersea cables linking the nation to the world and 10 cables to its outlying islands, he said, adding that the Ministry of Digital Affairs is focused on bolstering the resilience of the former.
Nevertheless, the cables to Matsu remain crucial to national security despite their exclusion from the list, he said.
Separately, the NSB submitted to legislators a report detailing the bureau’s efforts to harden national infrastructure against attacks.
Citing the National Intelligence Service Act (國家情報工作法), the report said that the NSB is empowered to preside over agencies involved in securing important sites, including the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau, the National Police Agency and Military Police Command.
The agencies are to send regular reports to the Executive Yuan’s Office of Homeland Security and maintain communication on matters concerning infrastructure security, it said.
A planned NSB task force would advise the office on risks, threats and weaknesses, it said, adding that natural disasters, human-caused hazards and cyberattacks are the main types of dangers to infrastructure.
Dual redundancy, frequent inspections, thorough background checks on personnel, security incident response exercises, and the full use of public and private resources are among the measures that would mitigate dangers, the report said.
Mitigation requires good data security and information-sharing practices, and the monitoring of emergent threats and security trends, it said.
The Executive Yuan began introducing dual redundancy to key oil, water, electricity and telecommunications infrastructure following a malfunction at Kaohsiung’s Hsinta Power Plant (興達電廠) in 2022 that triggered a nationwide power outage, it said.
A critical infrastructure security inspection system created last year would be implemented on 40 select sites, starting this year, it said.
Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau would be tasked with convening a national-level conference on infrastructure security and enforce new security-related rules added to standard public construction contract templates, the NSB said.
The Executive Yuan is to hold annual Chin Hwa exercises (金華演習) to train personnel involved with the operation of critical infrastructure in responding to contingencies to boost resiliency, it said.
The Office of Homeland Security would this year conduct security incident response exercises at 20 sites, the NSB said, adding that national security officials would observe drills and exercises.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS