US Congress legislation to boost Taiwan’s cyber defense capabilities

Asia-Pacific, News, US April 23, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced a new bill at the U.S. Congress that would enable Pentagon to help Taiwan in fortifying its cybersecurity capabilities.

The bill was named Taiwan Cyber Security Resilience Act. It was presented by a group of four congressmen, Senator Jacky Rosen, Representative Chrissy Houlahan from the Democratic Party and Senator Mike Rounds, and Representative Mike Gallagher from the Republican Party. The bill would require the Pentagon to intensify its cyber outreach and collaboration with the self-governed island.

The extended partnership on the cyber security front would allow U.S. experts to conduct joint training exercises and training with Taiwanese counterparts to eradicate malicious cyber activities. The legislation was presented during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that also featured the top U.S. military commander from the Indo-Pacific command, Admiral John Aquilino.

“We must push back on the Chinese Communist Party’s growing aggression, and its attempts to undermine democracy around the world, including through hostile cyber actions.” The U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen said while putting the bill forward.

He added that Taiwan has faced 20 to 40 million cyber attacks per month since 2019. “All too often, we’ve seen Taiwan used as a testing ground for China’s cyberattacks, later used against the United States,” Rosen said.

U.S. officials consider China as a premier threat to its cyber security along with Russia. The Biden administration has made it a priority to secure the country’s cyberspace. Last month, Pentagon released the national cyber security strategy that labels China as the most persistent threat due to its capabilities of twisting narratives and siphoning intellectual properties.

At least $184 million in funds from the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific command’s $3.5 billion annual budget have been directly dedicated to cyber security. $90 million funds have been dedicated to cybersecurity and network hardening, and $39 million to the so-called mission partner environment, which allows data from a range of militaries to be collated, secured, shared, and acted upon.

^{Personnel at Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command work in the cyber operations center at Lasswell Hall on Fort Meade, Maryland, Feb. 5, 2020. (Image Credit: U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Jacob Osborne/DoD)}

Separately during the hearing, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Commander Admiral John Aquilino said that it is Washington’s priority to enhance cybersecurity capabilities in cooperation with U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific region. U.S. arms deliveries to Taiwan would not affect Washington’s military support of Ukraine, he said, adding that “the US is the only global force capable of managing multiple threats.”

Congressman Gallagher said that a U.S. congressional war game simulating a Chinese invasion of Taiwan showed the need to arm the nation “to the teeth.” He said that the U.S. must boost the production of long-range missiles to be delivered to Taiwan.