Taiwan has uncovered Chinese-origin code inside software running on its Foreign Ministry's internal systems — a serious security breach for one of the island's most sensitive agencies.

• A Taipei tech company allegedly repackaged software built on Chinese source code and sold it to the Foreign Ministry as a local product.
• The company won contracts worth over NT$20 million for managing the ministry's information systems between 2023 and 2025.
• The ministry caught the problem during a routine security audit last year and reported it to investigators.
• Prosecutors sent teams to ten locations, searching offices and homes and questioning four suspects.
• The case is being pursued as procurement law violations, fraud, and forgery.

Outlook: Taiwan is likely to tighten vetting of software suppliers to government agencies, with more contracts facing review for hidden Chinese components.