It is necessary for Taiwan to develop independent communications satellites to replace Chinese-made telecom services at overseas missions and bolster digital communications resilience, Taiwanese academics said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an annual cybersecurity inspection found that some of its overseas missions could not replace Chinese telecom services or use alternatives, as local telecom services are programed to be operated on Chinese brand devices or the local telecom market is monopolized by Chinese companies, a report by the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said last month.
Asked for a comment, Institute for National Defense and Security Research associate researcher Tzeng Yi-suo (曾怡碩) on Saturday said that one feasible solution is to purchase reliable satellite communication systems.
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It also reflects the necessity of constructing an independent communications satellite network to ensure Taiwan’s national security and digital communications resilience, he said.
Overseas missions have employed end-to-end encryption for daily communications, but the risk of data being tampered with or intercepted by enemies remains, even if they switched to Taiwanese-made systems and equipment, Tzeng said.
The risk could increase if data are transmitted via undersea communication cables and pass through nations hostile to Taiwan, he added.
Although satellite communication has limited bandwidth, it is a reliable communication channel for personnel on overseas missions when combined with a risk-ranking approach, Tzeng said.
Instead of eschewing satellite communications, it is more reasonable to introduce systems with resilient backup mechanisms which are confidential, complete and accessible, he said.
The key problem to satellite communications lies in insufficient bandwidths, Kuma Academy CEO Ho Cheng-hui (何澄輝) said.
He suggested the authorities consider Starshield, satellite network services of national and military-level, which is provided by Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX).
If the government has concerns over SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s close ties with China, it could procure the services via the US military, similar to how it procures arms from US defense contractors, Ho said.
Satellite networks are also a possible solution, Taiwan National Security Association researcher Chen Kuan-hsien (陳冠憲) said.
While OneWeb — a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite service provider — is a feasible option for the short-term, Taiwan Space Agency would continue to proactively develop LEO satellite communication systems in the long-run, Chen said.
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