Taiwan Rebuts Beijing’s Allegations of Cyberattacks Against China

TAIPEI, Taiwan—Taiwan’s military has dismissed Beijing’s allegations that Taipei was behind a hacking group carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, according to a Sept. 23 statement.
Some Taiwanese lawmakers also denied Beijing’s allegations, emphasizing that it is communist China that has been waging cyber and psychological warfare against Taiwan.
China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), the Chinese regime’s top intelligence agency, said an organization called “Anonymous 64” has been hacking websites, outdoor electronic screens, and network TV stations in China, Hong Kong, and Macau since the beginning of this year, according to a blog published on Chinese social media platform Weixin on Sept. 23.
The MSS said the organization has sought to upload and broadcast “content that denigrates the mainland’s political system and major policies” to its targets.
The blog accused the hackers of being connected to Taiwan’s Information, Communications, and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM), which is under the jurisdiction of Taiwan’s defense ministry.
The MSS also named three individuals—Lo Chun-ming, Hung Li-chi, and Liao Wei-lun—claiming that they are active ICEFCOM members who are under Chinese investigation.
“The current enemy situation and cyber threats are severe,” the statement reads. “The Chinese communist military and forces that coordinate with it continue to use aircraft, ships, and cyberattacks to harass Taiwan and are the instigators of undermining regional peace.”
The command said it would continue to follow the defense ministry’s guidance to strengthen the island’s cybersecurity.
The security agency said that China likely used the incident to deflect the international community’s warnings about the regime’s malicious cyber activities.
Wang said that Taiwan has long been one of the hardest-hit areas in terms of cyberattacks, with the majority of those attacks coming from China.