Taiwan denies links to Lebanon pager explosions amid global probe
Taiwanese Minister of Economy Kuo Hui said on Friday that the components found in the pagers that exploded on Tuesday in Lebanon were not manufactured in Taiwan. Earlier this week, media reported that the pagers' model was the AR-924 device by Taiwanese brand Gold Apollo.
The head of the economy ministry said, "I can say with certainty they were not made in Taiwan." When asked if the parts in the exploded pagers were of Taiwanese origin, he added that judicial authorities are investigating the matter.
"The components are (mainly) low-end IC (integrated circuits) and batteries," he noted.
Kuo explained that Gold Apollo has exported 260,000 sets of pagers to European and American countries over the past two years, and there has never been an explosion.
It is unclear where the pagers were manufactured, even though some of the exploded devices bear the name of the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo Co. The company told reporters it had no dealings with these models, and a Hungarian company, BAC Consulting KFT, is responsible for their production. Meanwhile, authorities in Budapest announced that it has no factories in the country, and the company remains elusive.
While Taiwanese authorities investigate potential links between the extensive global technology supply chains and the devices used in the attacks in Lebanon, Gold Apollo's president and founder, Hsu Ching-Kuang, was questioned by prosecutors and then released. The offices of Gold Apollo and BAC Consulting KFT were also searched, reported the Taiwanese CNA agency on Friday.
Supply chains may become a new weapon
Although booby-trapped devices have been used in espionage for years, the scale and violence of the attacks in Lebanon have alarmed governments worldwide. They fear that the globalized supply chains, which help produce cheap goods and drive global growth, could become a weapon for foreign adversaries, reports Bloomberg.
"When you depend on other nations for key inputs or technology you give them a back door into everything you do," believes Melanie Hart, a former State Department official, adding that the explosions in Lebanon show where such dependency can lead.
"If Israel can do this, China can do it too," says Seth Moulton, a member of the House of Representatives. He adds that long, opaque supply chains leave gaps that can be easily exploited, so we need strategies to close them in close cooperation with our allies.
A high-ranking U.S. intelligence official, who wishes to remain anonymous, believes the attacks are the latest and most dramatic in a series of global supply chain attacks. The official says that preparing for them often takes years and usually has a narrow focus on limiting collateral damage.
Hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by the Iran-backed Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian Hamas, exploded in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday in an unprecedented attack that killed 37 people and injured nearly 3,000. Israeli intelligence is suspected of installing the explosive devices.
Explosions during funerals
According to the Middle East Institute Charles Lister, thousands of phones, laptops, and other electronic equipment likely exploded. He posted a video on X showing explosions during the funeral of Hezbollah members who died similarly.
