Taipei: Taiwan on Thursday denied China’s allegation that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, following the issuance of arrest warrants for 20 suspects by Chinese authorities.

According to Focus Taiwan, the Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau released warrants on June 5 for individuals identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau accuses them of orchestrating a cyberattack on May 20 targeting a self-service facility’s backend system at the company. The warrants claim that ICEFCOM, operating under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), directed the illegal cyber activities.

The warrants included a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,388) for each suspect and listed their National Identification Card numbers. The initial accusation of “hackers” being responsible for the attack was reported by China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency on May 27.

ICEFCOM responded on Thursday, labeling the accusations as unfounded and defamatory. The command stated that the false allegations, widely reported by China’s media and echoed by the Taiwan Affairs Office, are part of a propaganda effort aimed at unsettling Taiwan’s public. ICEFCOM also highlighted China’s global threat to cyberspace, citing statements from the Czech Republic and the EU condemning China’s “malicious cyber campaign.”

ICEFCOM spokesperson Col. Hu Chin-lung informed CNA that most individuals named in the warrants have retired from military service. Hu noted that some photos released by the bureau appear outdated and may have originated from third-party educational institutions.

When questioned about Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Jessica Chen’s hypothesis that the possession of National ID numbers by the bureau suggests a data breach by China, Hu assured that no military databases with such information had been compromised. ICEFCOM is currently investigating the source of the data leak, suspecting it may be linked to a previous breach of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance data between 2009 and 2022.