Taipei, Dec. 3 (CNA) A special task force has been established by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to monitor Taiwan-related documents expected to be released soon by the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, Foreign Minister Timothy C.T. Yang told CNA Friday.
"We have been in close contacts with the United States and we believe that the leaked classified documents will not jeopardize bilateral relations, " Yang said.
Wikileaks announced on its website that over the next few months, it will release in stages 251,287 cables originating from 274 U.S. embassies between Dec. 28, 1966 to Feb. 28, 2010 of the total 3,456 that were sent between the U.S. State Department and the American Institute in Taiwan -- the de facto U.S. representative office in Taiwan.
The MOFA has set up a task force under its Department of North American Affairs which has held meetings since last week to gauge and manage possible impacts of Wikileaks' release, Yang said.
Yang declined to comment on the authenticity of the documents, though Defense Minister Kao Hua-chu has said in the legislature that information unveiled by the website "was not necessarily true."
It would be more appropriate to let the U.S. make comments on the case, given that those hacked documents were U.S. government properties, Yang said.
According to Kao, a special task force under the Ministry of National Defense headed by Vice Minister Andrew Yang has been set up to follow future leaks by the website and analyze and verify any details that were related to Taiwan. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ S.C.