Defense News
03/26/2012
By Wendell Minnick
Taiwan Espionage Scandals Spell Trouble for Air
Defense
TAIPEI — A recent spate of arrests of Taiwan military
officials accused of working for China has raised concerns over the
vulnerability of Taiwan’s air defense and early warning capabilities, and calls
into question whether Taiwan can safeguard sensitive U.S. military technology.
A recently retired Taiwan military intelligence
official said the arrests indicate China
is focusing on Taiwan’s new Po Sheng C4ISR
modernization effort, the Anyu-4 air
defense system and surveillance radar program (SRP).
“It’s consistently Po Sheng and air defense stuff,” he
said. “Sounds like China thinks
these are Taiwan’s most potent defense, not Army tanks
and Navy ships and Air Force
fighters.”
In February, military investigators arrested a Taiwan
Air Force captain surnamed Chiang, an information control officer (IOC)
assigned to an air defense base in northern Taiwan. The “most interesting
thing” about the incident, the retired military intelligence officer said, is
that China targeted an IOC who had access to the computer systems linking all
of the air defense systems.
“Po Sheng and PAC [Patriot Advanced Capability missile
system] and other air defense
assets are probably the most-linked system, and the
PLA [People’s Liberation Army] has pretty powerful hackers,” he said.
An IOC could have given them the keys to break into
the network using cyber intrusion
software.
“They can’t hack tanks and ships, but they can try to
hack the air defense system, and
getting information about the inside networks of the
air defense system is the best
way to do it,” the retired officer said.
To make matters worse, in January 2011, Maj. Gen. Lo
Hsien-che was arrested and later sentenced to life for spying for China. Lo ran
the communications, electronics and information division of Army Command
Headquarters.
He was accused of providing China with information on
Po Sheng, data on a fiber-optic communications cable network and procedures for
sharing information with U.S. Pacific Command. Lo was the highest ranking
military official to be arrested since the Cold War.
In August 2011, a Taiwan High Court found a civilian,
Lai Kun-chieh, guilty of spying
for China after attempting to recruit a Taiwan Army
officer, surnamed Tsao, who
had access to the PAC system. After the attempted
recruitment, Tsao went to his superiors and worked with investigators until
Lai’s arrest in May 2011.
According to court documents, Li Xu, deputy department
chief of the Taiwan Affairs
Office under China’s State Council, recruited Lai.
Further confirmation China is focusing on Taiwan’s Po
Sheng and air defense networks
came in 2008 when U.S. authorities arrested Gregg
Bergersen, a senior official for the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, for allegedly
spying for China. Bergersen managed Taiwan’s Po Sheng program under the Foreign
Military Sales program and managed negotiations with Taiwan on the
Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement, which allows
the U.S. to release Type 1 cryptography techniques for U.S.-Taiwan
communications during a war.
Over the past 10 years, Taiwan has been upgrading a
variety of air defense and early warning systems. In 2004, the U.S. released an
$800 million long-range ultra-high-frequency early warning SRP to detect
ballistic and air-breathing threats. The radar was scheduled to go online in
2009, but mudslides and technical problems have caused delays.
Once the SRP sounds the initial warning, the new Anyu-4
air defense system would task the proper air defense missile units to respond.
Taiwan has a choice of I-Hawk, PAC-3, and Tien Kung (Sky Bow) air defense
missile batteries for medium- to long-range requirements.
Anyu-4 replaced four older air defense control and
reporting centers with new Regional Operations Control Centers (ROCCs). In
2001, the U.S. released the sale of ROCCs and mobile and fixed radar systems
for an undisclosed amount. Additional items, including the Program Automated
Air Defense System, were released in 2005.
Some officials have linked the recent series of
arrests to growing cross-strait economic and political ties, suggesting the
Taiwan military views reunification as inevitable and therefore has lowered
expectations of a stable military career and pension.
“A potential spy in Taiwan’s military may think: If
the retired two-, three-, four-star generals can go to China and receive VIP
treatment, banquets, golf, [then] is China really the enemy?” the retired
military official said.
“The Taiwan military is really confused,” he said.
“They’ve practiced against one enemy for the past 60 years; now that enemy
appears to be gone, and political leaders seem to bet everything on China
becoming our friend.”
Can Taiwan Keep
a Secret?
The increase in arrests since cross-strait ties began
improving after Ma Ying-jeou was elected as Taiwan’s president in 2008 have
also raised concerns Taiwan is losing its ability to protect secrets.
Taiwan has increased efforts to monitor espionage
activities as ties become stronger, said Liu Fu-kuo, a cross-strait specialist
at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University.
“I certainly know that the new situation across the
[Strait of Taiwan] has made it easier to spot. ... I guess that Beijing will
surely continue [espionage] activities and our side is making the extra effort
to clean up the mess,” Liu said.
Another fear in some defense circles in Taipei is that
Washington will stop selling Taiwan sensitive military technology if the
equipment cannot be safeguarded.
“Perhaps Taiwan’s political leadership doesn’t mind
where this trend is going, but
the military guys should know that soon they won’t be
able to buy anything from anywhere, maybe except from China,” said a Taiwan
defense analyst based in Taipei.
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