Intelligence

Taiwan-U.S. intelligence cooperation not part of leaked files: NSB

ROC Central News Agency

2010/12/06 22:17:24

Taipei, Dec. 6 (CNA) Classified U.S. documents released by the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks will not include information about intelligence cooperation between Taiwan and the United States, a National Security Bureau (NSB) official said Monday.

"U.S. intelligence authorities have assured us that no intelligence related to our bilateral intelligence cooperation projects have ever been leaked, " Chang Wei-ming, an NSB division chief, said at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan's Foreign and Defense Committee.

Fielding questions from ruling Kuomintang Legislator Chang Hsien-yao about the possible fallout on Taiwan's intelligence network, Chang Wei-ming said the leaked files were mainly from the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) , which represents U.S. interests in Taiwan in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.

Wikileaks announced on its website recently that over the next few months, it will release 251,287 cables originating from 274 U.S. embassies and consulates between Dec. 28, 1966 to Feb. 28, 2010.

Of the total, 3,456 were sent between the U.S. Department of State and the AIT, and 136 of them were classified as "secret."

The NSB official said AIT-related documents had yet to be released, but to his knowledge, the list included memos regarding AIT staff's code of conduct and Taiwan-U.S. cooperation in preventing weapons proliferation.

He said the NSB has joined an interministerial task force to monitor future leaks by the website and analyze and verify any details related to Taiwan.

On Monday, the Wikileaks released a U.S. State Department document dated February 2009 that listed some critical infrastructure facilities or telecommunication hubs whose destruction might seriously disrupt global communications.

The document, titled 2008 Critical Foreign Dependencies Initiative (CFDI) , listed landing sites for major Taiwan-related undersea cable networks, including Fangshan in southern Taiwan and Danshui in the north for C2C (city-to-city) cable network undersea cable landings.

It also cited Bali for Taiwan EAC undersea cable landings, Fangshan for Taiwan-China-U.S. undersea cable landings, and Toucheng for Taiwan FLAG/REACH North Asia Loop undersea cable landings.

The A to Z list documented undersea cable landing sites from Austria to New Zeland as well as major communication hubs, ports, minerals and strategic industrial companies critical to the functioning of the global supply chain.

KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang said he was worried the list was just the beginning of the release of classified documents.

He urged relevant government agencies to take precautionary measures to contain possible damage from the release of more information about Taiwan's sensitive military and civic infrastructure facilities. (By Emmanuelle Tzeng and Sofia Wu) enditem/ls