TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan’s cyber forces will not be intimidated by China’s threats of a bounty for the arrest of 20 people Beijing says are Taiwanese military hackers, and China’s legal system has no jurisdiction on the island, its defence ministry said.
China views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory and has over the past five years increased its military and political pressure against the island. Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
Last week, the public security bureau in the Chinese city of Guangzhou said the hackers were part of the Taiwan military’s Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command, and published their pictures, names and Taiwan identity card numbers, offering rewards of more than $1,000 for their arrest.
On Wednesday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said the government will “pursue the matter to the end, and will not be lenient”, using legal channels to “crack down” on their activities.
Late Wednesday, Taiwan’s defence ministry’s electronic force command said China was continuing to use “fictitious cyber hacking incidents to distort the facts” and offering cross-border rewards.
According to Taiwan’s constitution, China’s communist party has no legal jurisdiction over the island and its laws have “no real binding force” on Taiwan’s people, it said in a statement.
“The Chinese communists have invoked their domestic laws and regulations to systematically manipulate public opinion, with the intention of creating long arm jurisdiction and undermining the morale of our military,” it added.
“The officers and soldiers of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command will not be affected by this, and will continue to defend the digital frontier and ensure national security through the solid defence of information.”
Taiwan has repeatedly accused China of staging not only widespread hacking attacks against it, but also of spreading fake news via social media and other means to undermine confidence in the government.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)
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