TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – An amendment bill that would allow Taiwan’s National Security Act to cover the threat stemming from online spies was passed in the Legislative Yuan on Wednesday (June 19), Liberty Times reported.

The bill was introduced by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) and 16 other lawmakers, who said in the bill that in the age of globalization and information, threats to national security have expanded to the internet.

A number of lawmakers said that these threats not only come from extraterritorial military forces, but they also originate from organized nation-state hackers, who have the power to destroy key information infrastructure in Taiwan and adversely impact national security and people’s livelihoods, according to Liberty Times.

Therefore, the amendment essentially states that the safeguard against threats to national security should cover cyberspace as well as physical spaces within Taiwan’s territory.

In addition, the bill also increases the penalty for citizens who are recruited by China to act as spies. Those who are convicted of the crime will face sentences of more than seven years in prison and fines between NT$50 million (about US$1.6 million) and NT$100 million.

If the convicts are current or retired public servants, including military personnel, civil servants, teachers, and employees of state-run enterprises, they will be stripped of their retirement pensions, and be required to pay back the amount they have received since the day of their offense.

Citizens convicted of intending to damage national security from foreign regions outside of China face prison terms of 3 to 10 years and a fine of up to NT$30 million.

The amendment clearly states that citizens should not provide assistance to hostile entities beyond the border, including those in China, Hong Kong, and Macao. That assistance includes launching, funding, hosting, controlling, or developing such organizations as well as collecting intelligence for them.