Taiwan’s Challenging Security Environment

Unauthorized public disclosure of sensitive government information and Taiwan individuals’ actions on behalf of Chinese entities spotlight Taiwan’s challenging security environment. US businesses are advised to exercise precautionary measures to protect their assets and operations in Taiwan.

Diplomacy

In April 2024, four gigabytes of data on Taiwan Foreign Ministry’s confidential documents went on sale on BreachForum, a black-hat hacking website. The documents, which dated from 2022 to March 2024, revealed Taiwan’s attempts to rescue its diplomatic relations with two of its 12 diplomatic partners. 

• On 18 April, the Taiwan Foreign Ministry said the government has taken note of the incident and indicated that it could be a part of adversaries’ cognitive domain warfare (next-generation psychological warfare) against Taiwan. 

On 5 May, HSU Chiao-hsin, a lawmaker of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), disclosed to the media that Taiwan signed a secret $10 million deal with the Czech Republic in December 2023 to help Ukraine rebuild its healthcare system. 

• According to the released information, 30%-40% of the $10 million must be used to procure Taiwan-made products. 
• The deal allegedly involves the Czech Republic serving as the intermediary to deliver the funds to Ukraine. 
• Hsu alleged that the funds would be managed by a Czech “political donor” and the deal was an attempt by the Democratic Progressive Party government to buy political connections in the Czech Republic. 

The Taiwan Foreign Ministry later confirmed the deal but said it was designed to work with like-minded European countries to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. According to the Taiwan Foreign Ministry, Hsu’s revelation jeopardized years of effort by Taiwan diplomats, hurt Taiwan’s like-minded democracy partners in Europe, and undermined Taiwan’s international image. On 7 May, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry filed a criminal complaint against Hsu for breaching national and administrative secrecy laws. 

• Although the Czech Republic has diplomatic relations with Beijing, its relations with Taiwan have improved significantly since 2019. In March 2023, the Speaker of the Czech parliament led a 160-member delegation to Taiwan. In January 2024, Petr Pavel, President of the Czech Republic, became the first European leader to send official congratulations to William Lai on his election as Taiwan President. 

Military Procurement

On 19 April, a secret document was leaked from the government office overseeing Taiwan’s top-secret submarine development project. 

• The document contained communication between Taiwan and L3Harris Technologies, Inc., a US defense contractor, which revealed that L3Harris failed to deliver submarine periscopes on time and the Taiwan government threatened to consider replacing L3Harris as its contractor. 

China

On 9 May, a Taiwan court handed out prison sentences of four to six months to three Taiwan people for poaching Taiwan engineers for a Chinese entity. 

• The three Taiwan people were found guilty of recruiting 24 Taiwan engineers to work for China’s smartphone company Xiaomi Corporation. 
• The judge said actions by the three men endangered Taiwan’s national security. 

On 10 May, Taiwan’s High Court in Kaohsiung City granted the request of prosecutors to arrest one Taiwan businessman and two retired Taiwan military officers for allegedly developing a spy network in Taiwan for China.