Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) on Wednesday, 27 May publicly warned citizens to remain vigilant about cybersecurity risks posed by four Chinese-made mobile applications — Amap, Bilibili, iQIYI, and BIMOBIMO — with Amap currently topping both Android and iOS download charts for navigation apps in Taiwan. The advisory was issued by MODA's Administration for Cyber Security (ACS) at a press conference in Taipei.

Key Findings from the ACS Assessment

The ACS evaluated the four apps across four risk categories: reading data from other applications, gathering and sharing user data, accessing device information, and monitoring user activity. According to the agency, the central concern is that these apps may be compelled to share user data with Chinese authorities under China's Cybersecurity Law and National Intelligence Law — a situation it described as a 'greater risk to national security.'

ACS senior official Lee Yu-wei stated that Amap recorded the highest number of risk behaviours among the four apps assessed. Risk factors identified on both operating systems included continuously reading users' location, accessing contacts, audio-visual data, and microphone permissions.

What Officials Are Advising Citizens

Lee urged Taiwanese citizens not to limit their scrutiny to Chinese-developed apps alone, but to assess whether permissions requested by any app are reasonable. He also recommended using cybersecurity tools as a precautionary measure. The advisory reflects a broader push by Taiwan's digital governance bodies to raise public awareness about data sovereignty risks.

Parallel Threat: CCP Cognitive Warfare After Trump-Xi Summit

The cybersecurity warning comes alongside separate disclosures from Taiwan's National Security Bureau (NSB). On Monday, NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen told the legislature's Foreign Affairs and National Defence Committee that the bureau had identified nearly 100 suspicious account groups that shared over 9,000 divisive messages on social media following the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing during Trump's State Visit to China earlier this month.

According to Tsai, these accounts lacked normal friend connections or mutual followers, shared posts at set intervals, and echoed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) media narratives — specifically pushing the message that reunification would bring peace and casting doubt on US support for Taiwan. Tsai said the bureau alerted several government agencies to issue clarifications and reported the matter to Taiwanese President William Lai on 17 May.

US Reaffirms Taiwan Policy Amid Disinformation Wave

Tsai Ming-yen noted that the US Department of State subsequently clarified that Washington's policy on Taiwan — including arms sales to Taipei — remains unchanged, which he said helped counter social media claims that the US would abandon Taiwan in a crisis. During the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, Xi Jinping had stated that US-China ties would have 'overall stability' if the Taiwan issue is handled properly.

China maintains that Taiwan is part of its territory and reserves the right to reunify by force if necessary. Taiwan, backed by broad domestic public support, continues to assert its sovereignty and has consistently responded to Chinese military and informational incursions. The dual warnings — on app-level data risks and coordinated disinformation — underscore the multi-front nature of the digital threat Taiwan now faces.