by Brian Hioe
語言:
English
Photo Credit: Mehr News Agency/CC BY 4.0
AN ATTACK BY Israel on Hezbollah involving exploding pagers has led to questions for the Taiwanese company that Hezbollah reportedly ordered the pagers from. The explosions, which took place in Lebanon, injured over 2,750 and killed 12, including children. After the initial wave of explosions, a second wave killed 20 and injured at least 450, though this time walkie-talkies were the exploding devices. A wave of international condemnation has since ensued regarding Israel’s actions, which put civilians at risk.
The company in question, Gold Apollo, is based in New Taipei. Gold Apollo denies manufacturing the pagers, stating that Gold Apollo had provided its brand authorization trademark to BAC Consulting KFT to manufacture the pagers.
While Gold Apollo chair Hsu Ching-kuang initially did not wish to disclose where BAC Consulting KFT is based, he later stated that the company is based in Budapest, Hungary. Nevertheless, when Washington Post reporters sought to investigate the matter, BAC Consulting had little physical presence at its registered offices. Likewise, the Hungarian government has stated that BAC Consulting was simply an intermediary.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs states that it has no records of Gold Apollo exporting pagers to Lebanon. Pagers are not widely used in Taiwan, with telecom support for pagers phased out in past decades with the increasing use of smartphones. Gold Apollo and similar companies manufacture pagers for use in foreign markets.
In spite of some questionable initial reactions that argued that Israel had the technology to detonate any kind of electronic device with little proof, it is generally thought that explosives were put inside of the pagers by Israel at some point in the supply chain. It is unclear when this took place and if Taiwanese companies were involved.
Car fire allegedly caused by the pager explosions. Photo credit: Mehr News Agency/CC BY 4.0
Since the explosions, Hsu and Gold Apollo have mostly focused on defending the reputation of Gold Apollo as manufacturing safe electronic devices, rather than ones prone to explosion. Comparatively, there has not been much focus on whether Hsu was selling devices to the Israeli government or to Hezbollah. Selling to the latter could potentially cause trouble for Gold Apollo, though this would be far from the first time that Taiwanese companies have sold to internationally sanctioned entities. At the same time, it is also possible this took place through an intermediary.
Still, the incident also points to the dangers of doing business with Israel for Taiwan, if even mundane electronics as pagers are at the risk of being weaponized as part of plots that injure and kill civilians. Though much remains to be cleared up about the role of Gold Apollo or other Taiwanese companies, if Gold Apollo or Taiwanese companies did not have any active role in placing the explosives, it is probable that any reputational loss or impact on international perceptions of Taiwan is simply collateral damage for Israel–after all, the attacks, to begin with, show a callous disregard for human life of anyone caught up in the fray.
There has not been widespread discussion in Taiwan of Israel’s efforts at ethnic cleansing in Gaza. While civil society activists have sought to draw attention to the issue, the Taiwanese government has mostly expressed support for and donated to Israel. An incident involving a peaceful pro-Palestine demonstrator being violently attacked by the head of security for the Israeli representative office at a pro-Israel concert in May did not lead to any notable reactions in society.
However, the incidents regarding the exploding pagers may provide an opportunity for informing the Taiwanese public about the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza and beyond, particularly if it does transpire that a Taiwanese company was thrown under the bus by Israel as part of its plot against Hezbollah. Yet to this extent, the incident perhaps highlights what tech ties do exist between Taiwan and Israel which could bear greater scrutiny in light of Israel’s widespread human rights abuses, even if such ties are not as likely to occur at as sophisticated a level as exchanges of surveillance technology between Israel and China.
It is to be seen if this occurs, with many details still unknown. Indeed, one notes that there has historically been a lack of consumer boycotts in Taiwan–there will likely be those who simply see no issue with Taiwan selling to Israel, with the view that Taiwan has no responsibility after selling products to others. Furthermore, as has more broadly been the case to date with regard to Israel’s actions in Gaza, there will also be those in Taiwanese society that whitewash Israel’s actions, shrugging off actions indiscriminately targeting civilians as somehow justified and reciprocal. This would not surprise. Either way, given the widespread use of Taiwanese technology, the potential for it to be weaponized globally is high.