方恩格快评》认知战还是骇客攻击？

「台北驻汶莱经济文化办事处」的推特帐号被骇了，引发台湾的国家安全再被质疑。(图/网路截图)

最近在推特上搜索台湾新闻时，我的推特上出现了「台北驻汶莱经济文化办事处」的推特帐号。不知为何，头像是瑞波币支付系统的标志，加上外交部推文的转推，是关于电子加密货币的推文。

该帐户有一个蓝色复选标记，尽管 Twitter 的蓝色复选标记系统在 Elon Musk 接管公司后出现了问题。

不管实际情况如何，从公开的推文来看至少持续10天以上，笔者不禁怀疑，这是否可以算作台湾国家安全与对外关系部门的最新安保失误。

「台北驻汶莱经济文化办事处」的推特帐号被骇了，引发台湾的国家安全再被质疑。(图/网路截图)

今年早些时候，国安局局长陈明通访问泰国的细节被泄露，包括他在曼谷机场出入境柜台拍摄的照片，以及他在曼谷酒店的费用发票。而国防部政战局长简士伟夏威夷之行的饮食购物细节也被泄露。近日，一名军官因收受中国大陆贿赂被检察官起诉后，国防部政战局受到批评，因为发现此案的是检察官，而不是政战局。

这是继近年来的其他事件之后发生的一些国安事件。蔡英文总统的特勤成员在陪同总统出国时走私香烟到台湾。据称，一名前国防部军事情报局局长帮助一位朋友的女儿通过了该局的入学考试。去年12月，尼加拉瓜与中华民国断交后，驻尼加拉瓜大使未能返回台湾，却被发现已成为尼加拉瓜公民。

这些事件通常都被遗忘，因为在立法院占多数的民进党立委没有意愿进一步追究这些问题，而中国国民党立委往往更喜欢通过记者招待会和横幅标语批评中央政府，而不是进行实质性调查。

民进党在最近的地方选举中一个失败的策略就是与中国有关。这包括频繁使用「抗中保台」的口号或声称地方选举将向世界发出信息，包括在民进党视频中使用蔡总统与美国众议院议长裴洛西的照片。

在 2018 年中国国民党表现出色而民进党表现不佳的地方选举之后，许多人声称这是因为中国的认知战，尽管证据薄弱。似乎，台湾内外的某些人会再次提出这样的说法，以解释国民党为何在2022年的地方选举中再次取得佳绩。为了宣扬他们败在中国的认知战，访问台湾的外国记者和学者会收到关于台湾如何打好认知战的介绍，即使外国人没有意识到他们正在被利用，作为「出口转内销」的政治消费策略。

事实上，中国因素或民主的口号，并不能代替维护台湾国家安全的必要工作。地方选举已经结束，但2024年1月将举行总统和立法委员选举。希望台湾领导人能够将国家安全置于政治之上。

我们今天打电话给外交部，询问他们是否知道汶莱推特帐号中台北经济文化办事处的情况。他们的回答是，驻汶莱办事处推特的帐号遭侵入窜改，也就是被骇了。（作者为美国共和党前亚洲区主席）

Cognitive Warfare or Simply Hacked?

By Ross Darrell Feingold

Former Asia Chairman, Republicans Abroad

Twitter: @RossFeingold

While searching Twitter for news about Taiwan recently, the Twitter account of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brunei Darussalam appeared in my Twitter feed. For reasons unknown, the profile photo is the logo of the Ripple payment system, and, mixed with re-tweets of Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweets, are tweets about cryptocurrency.

The account has a blue check mark, though Twitter’s blue check mark system has had its problems after Elon Musk took over the company.

Whatever the actual situation is, for it to continue at least ten days based on the publicly available tweets, makes this author wonder whether it can be included among the latest security failure at the agencies responsible for Taiwan’s national security and foreign relations.

At the National Security Bureau, earlier this year details of a trip taken by Director General Chen Ming-tong (陈明通) to Thailand were leaked, including his photo taken at the Bangkok airport immigration counter and the invoice of charges he incurred at his hotel in Bangkok. At the Ministry of National Defense Political Warfare Bureau, there was also a leak of eating and shopping details of Director Chien Shih-wei’s (简士伟) trip to Hawaii. Recently, after a military officer was indicted by prosecutors for receiving bribes from China, the Ministry of National Defense Political Warfare Bureau was criticized because prosecutors, rather than the Political Warfare Bureau, discovered the case.

This follows other incidents in recent years. Members of President Tsai Ing-wen’s protection detail cigarette smuggled cigarettes in to Taiwan, when accompanying the president on overseas trips. A former Ministry of National Defense Military Intelligence Bureau director allegedly helped a friend’s daughter pass the bureau’s entrance exam. Last December after Nicaragua derecognized the Republic of China, the ambassador to Nicaragua failed to return to Taiwan and it was discovered he had become a Nicaragua citizen.

Usually these incidents are forgotten, as the Democratic Progressive Party majority in the Legislative Yuan shows limited willingness to pursue these matters further, and Chinese Nationalist Party legislators often prefer to criticize the central government via press conferences and banners, rather than conduct substantive investigations.

A failed strategy for the Democratic Progressive Party in the recent local election was to make the election about China. This included frequent use of the slogan Oppose China, Save Taiwan or claims that a local election would send message to the world (including the use of photos of President Tsai with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Democratic Progressive Party videos). After the 2018 local election in which the Chinese Nationalist Party did well and the Democratic Progress Party did poorly, many claimed it was because of China’s cognitive warfare though often based on weak evidence. It is also likely that such claims will be made again by certain persons both inside and outside Taiwan to explain why the Chinese Nationalist Party did well again in the 2022 local election. As part of such efforts, foreign journalists and scholars who visit Taiwan receive presentations about how well Taiwan fights cognitive warfare, even if the foreigners don’t realize they are being used as part of a “If First Sold Overseas, Can Then Re-Sell in Taiwan” (出口转内销) strategy for domestic political consumption.

The reality is slogans about China or democracy are not a substitute for the necessary work to safeguard Taiwan’s national security. The local election is over, but the presidential and Legislative Yuan election is in January 2024. Let’s hope Taiwan’s leaders can prioritize national security over politics.

We called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ask them if they are aware of what is going on with the Taipei Economic Cultural Office in Brunei’s Twitter account, and after several hours, the ministry confirmed that the account was hacked.

※以上言论不代表旺中媒体集团立场※