28 terroristic threats received over movie critical of China: NSB

Taipei, Nov. 26 (CNA) Taiwan's National Security Bureau (NSB) revealed on Tuesday that the country has so far received 28 threatening emails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across Taiwan in October.

Some movie theaters across Taiwan that have shown the award-winning documentary film "State Organs" received threatening emails that said explosions or the shooting of firearms would happen on their premises if they did not stop showing the film, the NSB said.

The NSB said that although the threats were not carried out, police had strengthened their security presence around movie theaters in cities including Taipei, New Taipei and Kaohsiung.

Directed by Raymond Zhang, the one-hour-and-fifteen-minute-long documentary highlights the issue of government-sanctioned forced organ harvesting in China.

The 2024 movie won awards at the Leo Awards and the Manhattan Film Festival, and was an official contender for Best Documentary Feature at the 97th Academy Awards, according to the film's website.

The NSB, Taiwan's main intelligence agency, suspects "cyber warriors" associated with the Chinese government sent the threatening emails.

The National Police Agency's Criminal Investigation Bureau traced the emails to overseas IP addresses in France, Poland, the United States, China, Germany, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, Japan, Spain, and Russia.

This suggests that the threats were sent using virtual proxy network (VPN) software designed to disguise the sender or senders' original location, the NSB said.

The NSB said it has submitted a written report to the Legislature, whose Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee is scheduled to hear a report on "The difficulties of screening 'State Organs' in Taiwan, China's long-arm jurisdiction strategy toward Taiwan, and Taiwan's response" on Wednesday.