"China uses civil groups, religious institutions to infiltrate military," says Taiwan's Defence Ministry

Taipei [Taiwan], April 20 (ANI): Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) in its report on Saturday has stated that China is using local criminal organisations, illegal lenders, religious institutions, and civil groups to penetrate the Taiwanese military, Taipei Times reported.
The report, prepared for lawmakers ahead of a scheduled hearing on Chinese espionage, said that retired military personnel who had aligned with China often relied on these channels to access active members of the armed forces.
According to the ministry, Chinese intelligence operations commonly use measures such as blackmail, online communications, bribery, and pressure from loan sharks to manipulate serving military personnel into cooperating.
Beijing's primary objectives are to gather intelligence and build a network of operatives within Taiwan that could weaken the nation's defence capabilities, the MND reported.
However, the report noted that counterintelligence efforts have been effective--87.5 per cent of caught Chinese spies were reported by military members they had approached. The MND, in coordination with the National Security Bureau and agencies under the Ministry of Justice, has created special procedures to investigate and prosecute espionage cases while safeguarding classified information.
To further strengthen defences, the military is implementing a standardised system for probing information security violations and vetting both personnel and contractors to prevent internal threats.
Meanwhile, a monthly report by the Ministry of Digital Affairs said that Taiwan was subjected to 82 cyberattacks in March, a slight decrease from the number of attacks in the same month last year, according to Taipei Times.
The Administration for Cyber Security reported that over 20 government institutions were targeted by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which caused disruptions or slowed internet services.
These attacks affected local governments, tax agencies, judicial systems, social services, and healthcare providers, with those sectors accounting for 30 per cent of the incidents. Due to the use of proxy systems, officials have not been able to trace the attackers. Still, the agency confirmed that none of the cyberattacks caused lasting damage and that most systems were quickly restored. (ANI)