National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) met with Paraguayan President Santiago Pena and attended an intelligence meeting in Paraguay to enhance information exchange with Latin American allies, the NSB said yesterday.
Nine chiefs of intelligence and security from Taiwan’s allies in Latin America and the Caribbean attended the meeting, with a joint memorandum of understanding signed to establish a multilateral cooperative mechanism, it said.
The mechanism is aimed at improving intelligence sharing and facilitating international training programs for security agencies, it said.
Photo: Screen grab from sni_paraguay’s X account
In the meeting, allies expressed concern that China has been politically and economically infiltrating Latin America and the Caribbean, while Taiwan detailed how Beijing interfered in its presidential and legislative elections and Taipei’s countermeasures, it said.
Tsai and Pena exchanged views on the global situation and bilateral cooperation, it said.
Tsai had visited Belize, another ally of Taiwan, in May last year and met with chiefs of intelligence agencies from the Central American allies and Paraguay.
Diplomatic intelligence and information exchanges are indispensable, Kuma Academy cofounder and Taiwan Association for Strategic Simulation research fellow Ho Cheng-hui (何澄輝) said.
Ho cited the CIA’s sharing intelligence with Ukraine prior to Russia’s invasion that started in 2022.
Taiwan’s exchanges at the meeting this year might have focused on political and economic information, which would help Taipei understand China’s strategies against intelligence agencies abroad and its “united front” tactics such as influence operations and external propaganda, Ho said.
Such exchanges could also help Taiwan reinforce diplomatic ties with allies, he added.
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