Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Raise penalties for leaks, legislators say

Taipei Times

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the National Security Act (國家安全法) that would ensure elected representatives have half the normal sentence added to their term if convicted of leaking state secrets.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) is under investigation for allegedly leaking confidential material about Taiwan’s Indigenous Defense Submarine Program to South Korea.

Local media reported that during closed-door meetings of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee at which details of the submarine program were reviewed, Ma brought in a personal device to call her aides, and refused to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Look to India on Chinese infiltration

Paul Lin 林保華

On Oct. 3, police in New Delhi raided and searched the residences of several staff members of the NewsClick online news site and detained several of them for interrogation. According to an investigative report published in the New York Times in August under the headline “A global web of Chinese propaganda leads to a US tech mogul,” NewsClick’s main funder is a 69-year-old US citizen named Neville Roy Singham, who established the Chicago-based software and information technology consultancy Thoughtworks and currently lives in Shanghai.

NewsClick, founded in 2009, defines itself as an independent news medium focusing on “social justice” that speaks out for “oppressed communities.” However, the New York Times report says NewsClick’s reports are full of Chinese government talking points such as that “China’s history continues to inspire the working classes.” Many organizations, from the Massachusetts-based think tank Tricontinental and a South African political party to a Brazilian news organization, have traces of Singham’s funding with the aim of spreading China’s “grand external propaganda.” According to the report, Singham-funded media have used funding from the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Shanghai Municipal Committee to publish videos on YouTube and “spread China’s voice to the world.”

Unity makes strength

Taipei Times Editorial

Policymakers and experts in Japan back increased US support for Taiwan, while those in South Korea and the Philippines want that support to remain as it is now, US and Japanese researchers found.

The report, which was completed in February and published online last month, was conducted by US-based think tank RAND Corp and Japan’s Sasakawa Peace Foundation.

The report’s findings on Japan’s stance are not surprising as Japanese officials on several occasions over the past few years have said that a conflict in the Taiwan Strait would impact Japan. Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2021 called for the US to make it clear that it would defend Taiwan in such a conflict, and then-Japanese deputy prime minister Taro Aso said in the same year that Tokyo and Washington would defend Taiwan together.

Subs crucial to Taiwan’s defense

Fang Ping-sheng 方屏生

The nation’s first domestically made submarine, named the Hai Kun (海鯤), or “Narwhal,” had its commissioning ceremony at shipbuilder CSBC Corp’s Kaohsiung dockyard last week.

As the first indigenous defense submarine prototype, it still requires many modifications and final testing.

However, information leaks and corruption allegations surrounding the program have been making news headlines, causing furor and confusion among the general public. The Ministry of National Defense and prosecutors should quickly get to the bottom of the matter.

More Articles...