“”A Legal Perspective on the Protection of Critical Infrastructure: The Case of Taiwan’s Undersea Cables“”
Thanks for the invitation from Taiwan Research Hub at Nottingham University and glad to make my contribution to the special issue “Digital Governance in Taiwan”. This article takes a legal perspective on the protection of digital critical infrastructure-focusing on the undersea cables that serve as the digital lifelines for Taiwan to connect the world. There are two aspects discussed in this article: international law and domestic law. Although not mandatory, international treaties already provide a legal framework for members to strengthen the safety of undersea cables. Regardless there are limitations in directly applying these international legal principles in the case of contingency, it helps to give a thorough examination of existing legal tools in a bid to further integrate Taiwan into the international regime.
From the point of the domestic law, in responding to the undersea cables (cut off) incident in Matsu in early 2023, Taiwan government promptly revised Article 72 and added Article 72-1 of the Taiwan Telecommunications Management Act, which the Legislative Yuan approved in June 2023. The new Article 72 introduces strict penalties for those who interfere with submarine cable infrastructure (including landing stations). Article 72-1 goes further by addressing threats to critical information and communication systems. It is worth attention that the amended Articles 72 and 72-1 of the Telecommunications Management Act extend to extraterritorial offences. However, the judicial authority and judicial practice of Taiwan over foreign vessels would be another challenge.
Needless to say, it is important to prepare redundancy networks through technological means, I am glad to add a legal aspect to the heated discussion on Taiwan Digital Resilience and Digital Governance: the case of undersea cables.
👉👉The full article is here: https://taiwaninsight.org/2024/09/30/a-legal-perspective-on-the-protection-of-critical-infrastructure-the-case-of-taiwans-undersea-cables/