TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Cabinet on Thursday proposed amendments to the National Security Act that would impose administrative fines on individuals or groups found to be promoting the nonpeaceful destruction of Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Under the proposed changes, advocacy or support for foreign powers to use war or other nonpeaceful means to extinguish Taiwan’s sovereignty would be punishable by fines ranging from NT$100,000 (US$3,169) to NT$1 million, per CNA.
The amendments would also require internet service providers to preserve and submit relevant data to authorities when online content is found to promote war, spread Chinese Communist Party propaganda, or disseminate false information that endangers national, social, financial, or economic security. Providers that fail to comply could face fines of up to NT$1 million.
The proposal authorizes the Interior Ministry to order service providers to block harmful online content in cases deemed severe and requiring immediate action. The Interior Ministry, Mainland Affairs Council, Ministry of Justice, and other relevant agencies would jointly determine violations.
The amendments further stipulate that retired military personnel or civil servants convicted under the National Security Act and sentenced by district courts to serve prison terms would forfeit half of their pensions. For active-duty personnel, criminal penalties would be increased by 50%.
In addition, the proposal calls for prison terms of up to seven years and fines of up to NT$300 million for organizations, groups, or individuals established by hostile foreign forces — including China, Hong Kong and Macau — that steal, coerce, or defraud others to obtain critical national secrets.
Responding to concerns over freedom of speech, Minister without Portfolio Lin Ming-hsin (林明昕) said the use of administrative fines rather than criminal penalties was intended to avoid restricting free expression, per Storm Media. He added that private discussions of the prohibited conduct would not fall under the law.
On the government’s expanded authority to block online content, Lin said the primary goal is to prevent the further spread of disinformation.
Minister without Portfolio Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成) said the amendments focus on banning propaganda, in line with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, per ETtoday. He added that speech promoting violent unification or attacking other countries would also fall under the proposed restrictions.
Kuomintang Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) criticized the proposal, saying it amounted to an attempt to curb speech by codifying President Lai Ching-te’s (賴清德) 17-point national security strategy, per CTS. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤) responded, stressing that the restricted speeches fall in the purview of national security and not free expression.
Asked how the Cabinet plans to secure passage of the amendments, Cabinet Spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said legislation aimed at protecting national security and preventing infiltration should attract bipartisan support, per UDN.
The Cabinet also proposed amendments to the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces that would increase penalties for military personnel who neglect their duties by surrendering to the enemy, as well as for those who conspire to do so or declare allegiance to hostile forces, per Liberty Times.
