離開
進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 TSU calls for government use of Juiker to be halted due to Chinese investment
Taiwan Solidarity Union legislative caucus whip Lai Chen-chang holds up a graphic during a news conference in the Legislative Yuan in Taipei showing that financing for the company that handles the only messaging application that civil servants are allowed to use comes from China’s National Development and Reform Commission. Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
NATIONAL SECURITY: Legislator Lai Chen-chang said that he suspects the transfer of technology was a plot by the Chinese to monitor the government’s activity
By Chang Hsiao-ti / Staff reporter
The Taiwan Solidarity Union （TSU） legislative caucus yesterday said that the technology behind Juiker, a messaging app that was branded as created in Taiwan and widely used in government agencies, has been transferred to a company that has a background involving Chinese investment.
The caucus called for an immediate halt to its use by government employees out of concern for national security until suspicions have been cleared.
Last year, the Executive Yuan ordered government employees to cease use of messaging app Line for work, due to information security concerns, calling for it to be replaced by the locally developed Juiker.
More than 30 government agencies have switched to Juiker, which has the central government has been promoting, TSU caucus whip Lai Chen-chang （賴振昌） said, adding that it has since become the only messaging app allowed for use at work within the government.
TSU Legislator Yeh Chin-ling （葉津鈴） said Juiker has 5 million users.
Even Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） said she uses the app to communicate with her core group of assistants.
However, the TSU caucus claimed that the technology behind Juiker, developed by the Industrial Technology Research Institute with a NT$150 million （US$4.8 million） subsidy from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, was transferred in January to LoFTech （源思科技）, a company registered as having “foreign investment” and whose chairman, David Tai （戴偉衡）, is the president and managing partner of two other corporations with Chinese investments.
Lai said that Tai is the Taiwan region president of the Chongqing Huaben Venture Capital Fund, in which the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission has directly invested.
Lai said he suspects the intervention through Chinese investment was designed to steal the government’s information and monitor its activity — a serious threat to national security.
The TSU caucus demanded that use of the app in government be suspended until the security concerns have been resolved, as well as a comprehensive investigation by the ministry into LoFTech and whether the app should be categorized as a telecoms product, which would require a license and be subject to regulations that place restrictions on Chinese investment.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
