A cybersecurity center combining the resources of government agencies and global partners will fortify Taiwan’s defenses against an onslaught of hacks and other digital threats, primarily originating from China, officials say.
The initiative, outlined by the National Institute of Cyber Security in April 2025, will oversee key areas including bolstering societal resilience, defending supply chains and infrastructure, and ensuring the safe use of artificial intelligence, the Taipei Times newspaper reported.
The self-governed island “experiences the highest rate of cyber intrusions” in the Indo-Pacific, the Global Taiwan Institute (GTI), a United States-based think tank, reported in March 2025. Beijing-backed hackers target critical infrastructure, diplomatic and government networks, and intellectual property from industries such as Taiwan’s world-leading semiconductor manufacturers.
The Chinese Communist Party has been increasing its campaign of coercion and belligerence against Taiwan, which it claims as its territory and threatens to annex by force.
China “uses the full spectrum of malign activity in cyberspace against Taiwan,” possibly collaborating with Russian cybercriminals, the GTI reported. “Beijing leverages networked connectivity to collect intelligence, distort the information environment, and prepare for war.”
With digital threats escalating, individuals and organizations must build a global cybersecurity network, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said during Cybersec 2025, an annual conference that drew international experts to Taipei in mid-April. He said Taiwan government networks averaged 2.4 million daily intrusion attempts in 2024, more than twice as many as the previous year, the Taipei Times reported.
Lai said a recently announced four-year cybersecurity initiative includes developing technologies and strengthening information security networks, the Foreign Affairs Ministry reported.
The planned cybersecurity center is part of the Taiwan National Security Council’s information security strategy, which was unveiled in early April 2025. The plan highlights safeguarding the military’s operational command system to prevent adversaries from stealing data and undermining defense systems, the Taipei Times reported.
According to the GTI report, China-backed hackers “prioritize collecting political, diplomatic, military, economic, and social information.” It cited a group known as Flax Typhoon, which is believed to be based in China’s Fujian province, across the Taiwan Strait from Taiwan. From late 2023 to early 2024, the group compromised network infrastructure at a Taiwan university to target diplomatic and government entities, electronics companies, and think tanks, according to research by Recorded Future, a U.S.-based cybersecurity company.
“Taiwan cannot rest easy, because of the persistence … and the quantity” of China-backed actors, the GTI noted.
