Experts believe that it is no longer important whether the technology itself is advanced. "The most important thing is that the Taiwan authorities should not use so-called secret leaks to discredit the mainland with ulterior motives."

Source: Global Times

[Global Times Special Correspondent Cheng Dong and Li Yao] The situation on the cross-strait continues to tense, and the DPP authorities have begun to engage in so-called "anti-infiltration" in the military again. Recently, Taiwan’s “Ministry of National Defense” submitted a report, which mentioned that the self-built arms facilities on the island involved the mainland’s “infiltration” and “stealing secrets”. Experts believe that it is no longer important whether the technology itself is advanced. "The most important thing is that the Taiwan authorities should not use so-called secret leaks to discredit the mainland with ulterior motives."

According to Taiwan United News Network on the 24th, Taiwan’s “Ministry of National Defense” submitted a “Report on the Implementation of Defense Manufacturers Security Investigation and Confidential Audit” to the “Legislative Yuan”. The report said that for arms production units, the "safety verification workstation" mainly based on human resources is organized in the "Military Security Corps". It has a personnel verification team, a confidentiality evaluation team, a northern verification working group, a central verification detachment team and a southern verification working group. It is assigned to the "Ministry of National Defense Political Operations Bureau" according to the task characteristics, and is responsible for performing special responsibilities such as security investigation, confidentiality evaluation and factory audit of "national defense manufacturers". Among them, the inspection teams in the northern, central and southern regions entered the project offices of the "Xinxin Academy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences", "Taichung Hanxiang Company" and "Kaohsiung Taiwan Shipping Company" respectively, and used the mobile project resident model to perform safety inspection and audit tasks, and were responsible for interviewing manufacturers and personnel from various regions and visiting and auditing manufacturers related to confidential manufacturers.

report stated that the human demand for "fighter self-made", " submarine self-made" and new weapons development needs, and the human resources demand of " Chinese Academy of Sciences " and related manufacturers is expanding. In order to ensure that these personnel are "safe and purity" and that the contractor's facilities and information comply with security control regulations, the "political war situation" implements in-depth security investigations against confidential personnel in accordance with the principle of "investing first and then using". So far in 2021, 245 cases and 3,648 people have been completed, of which 69 people have "not honestly filled out the personal safety survey form" due to factors such as "land-related relationships", and their qualifications to participate in the project were rejected. At the same time, 186 violations have been reported during this period, "immediate improvement and punishment as per contract are adopted, and major violations have been eliminated, and contact with confidentiality is restricted to ensure confidentiality maintenance and security."

The report also mentioned that in order to strengthen the financial background of cooperative manufacturers and prevent "land capital penetration", so far in 2021, a total of 97 dangerous situations have been reported on the island. Among them, for high-risk behaviors such as "counterfeit products, mainland products, and modified origin proof delivery", all informed the procuratorate and investigation authorities to investigate and terminate the contract in accordance with the law. As for the personnel of the "Chinese Academy of Sciences" in Taiwan, the entire hospital has been adopted since 2022 and cooperated with the "National Security Bureau" project work, "for confidential retired personnel, they will restrict their exit from the country in accordance with the Confidential Protection Law."

In fact, the "Chinese Academy of Sciences" has always been the focus of the DPP authorities because of its mastery of the Taiwan military's weapons and technology. In April this year, Taiwanese media disclosed that Taiwan’s “Ministry of Law” amended the “State Confidential Protection Law” and planned to include “administrative legal persons” in the category of confidential agencies.

"Administrative legal person" refers to a public legal person established by the authority and local autonomous groups in accordance with the law to perform specific public affairs. Taiwan currently has five administrative legal persons, including the "Chinese Academy of Sciences", sports training center, disaster prevention and rescue technology center, performing arts center, and residential and urban renewal center. In April 2014, the "Central Academy of Sciences" which was originally affiliated with the "Ministry of Defense Arms Bureau" was changed to an administrative legal person, but in recent years, the situation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait was severe. The DPP authorities believe that "Central Academy of Sciences has become one of the key infiltration goals in the mainland." In 2020, Taiwan’s “Ministry of National Defense” requested the Ministry of Justice and Taiwan’s “High School of Science” to include the “Central Academy of Sciences” in the “paramilitary organ” on the grounds of security.

In addition, Taiwan’s “Ministry of National Defense” and “Ministry of Law” have also amended the “National Security Law” to elevate the “Core Key Technology Business Secrets” to the protection level of “National Security”. It is clearly defined as those who steal Taiwan’s core key technology secrets from abroad and the mainland can be sentenced to 12 years. If the amount of crime exceeds 100 million NT$ , the maximum fine of 1 billion yuan can be fined 1 billion yuan; if the secret is stolen and used in overseas, mainland China and other places, the sentence is up to 10 years.

At the same time, the DPP authorities have recently stepped up their investigation into the so-called "communist spies".According to Taiwan's China Times, in late June, a Hong Kong businessman was accused of being assigned to Taiwan by mainland intelligence staff to absorb Taiwan's retired Air Force Major General Qian Yaodong and retired Lieutenant Colonel Wei Xianyi in Taiwan to develop the organization, and tried to absorb several retired generals, including former "Air Force Commander" Shen Guozhen and former "Deputy Minister of National Defense" Zhang Zheping. After investigation by the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office, it was found that Zhang and Shen had not been absorbed. On June 24, Qian and Wei were prosecuted in accordance with the crime of developing the organization in accordance with the "National Security Law", and a wanted warrant for Hong Kong businessmen who had not been arrested. In late July, Taiwanese media claimed that the retired lieutenant colonel of the Taiwan Air Force was absorbed by mainland intelligence personnel, mainly to win over the active lieutenant colonel of Taiwan, hoping to "passively not resist" when wars in the Taiwan Strait in the future.

However, many "communist spy cases" investigated by Taiwan have been criticized and are considered to be made out of nothing. Five people, such as Taipei City Councilman Hou Hanting , New Party spokesman Wang Bingzhong, Lu Sheng Zhou Hongxu, etc., were charged with being indicted by mainland China to develop organizations in Taiwan, and the first instance sentenced all five people to be not guilty. In May this year, " Taiwan High Court " rejected the prosecutor's appeal and still found five people not guilty, but Taiwan's " High Prosecutor's Office " still insisted on appealing for the third trial.

Many comments question whether Taiwan’s military secrets are really worth stealing? Military expert Song Zhongping 25 was interviewed by a reporter from " Global Times " and interpreted the "concerns" of the DPP authorities. He said that this "worry" is divided into two aspects. On the one hand, although the Tsai administration claims to be "made by itself", many technologies are actually not owned by Taiwan. Taking submarines as an example, many of the relevant technologies come from the United States, Japan and other places, and these countries require Taiwan to abide by the confidentiality agreement. On the other hand, it is not the technology itself, but the parameters behind the technology. "These technologies themselves may not be advanced, but their parameters are a reflection of the combat effectiveness of Taiwan's submarines." That is to say, once the parameters of these submarines are leaked, their combat effectiveness will be zero.

Regarding the DPP authorities' continuous slander of the mainland's stealing of its secrets, Song Zhongping believes that mainland submarine technology has long been at the world's leading level, and Taiwan's submarine technology is simply irrelevant. "Whether relevant departments and insiders on the island will leak, you have to ask the Taiwan authorities themselves, rather than smearing the mainland with ulterior motives."