By Jason Pan / Staff reporter

The military has been upgrading its digital technology know-how and improved its cyberwarfare defenses in the past several years, as well as ensuring cybersecurity is in coordination with various government agencies, the Ministry of National Defense （MND） said on Friday.

The ministry issued the statement in response to comments made by Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） Secretary-General Joseph Wu （吳釗燮） at the 14th annual US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference that took place in Williamsburg, Virginia, last week.

Wu talked about the DPP’s plan, saying that if it were to become the ruling party following the presidential election on Jan. 16, it would establish a Taiwanese “cyberarmy,” which would be a step-by-step program that would eventually become the fourth branch of the nation’s armed forces by 2019.

The program was outlined earlier in May, when the DPP presented its 2015 Defense Policy Blue Paper in Taipei, which also outlined plans for focused investment and government support to improve the nation’s defense industry.

The policy paper proposed the establishment of a cyberarmy by recruiting personnel from the private sector as well as from the military.

The plan proposed an initial budget of NT$1 billion （US$30.44 million） to fund the formation of the “Cyberarmy Command Headquarters Office” that would be integrated into the ministry as a branch of the armed forces.

The ministry, in its statement, said cyberwarfare was pivotal in modern military strategy, adding that it had expanded its staff and equipment in the current setup of its Information and Electronic Warfare Command, which is directly under the General Chief of Staff Office.

The ministry would continue to coordinate with the nation’s technical research and development institutes to keep up with changes in digital technology, to upgrade its combat capability in cyberwarfare, and also to protect the nation’s cybersecurity, the statement added.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES

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