National Security Bureau Director-General Chen Ming-tong arrives at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday for a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

The nation’s intelligence chief yesterday said that some local Internet celebrities are being paid by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to conduct “cognitive warfare” campaigns in Taiwan and help Beijing spread propaganda.

National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said that one example happened in early March following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when a Taiwanese Internet celebrity on TikTok claimed that the Chinese government was offering to evacuate Taiwanese from the European nation.

A nurse administers a vaccine to a child in Chiayi City yesterday.
Photo: Wang Shan-yen, Taipei Times

People aged 65 or older, and those over 60 who are immunocompromised, will be eligible for a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine beginning next week at the earliest, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as COVID-19 cases topped 60,000 for a second day.

US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testifies during a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday.
Photo: AP

The threat posed by China to Taiwan until 2030 is “critical,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said on Tuesday while testifying on worldwide threats at a hearing of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services.

“I think it’s fair to say that it’s critical, or acute,” Haines said when asked by US Senator Josh Hawley if she viewed the threat facing Taiwan to be acute from now until 2030.