Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (
"Has the military done enough for Lin? He graduated from the army academy in 1965. He climbed to the position of company leader in only three years. What's more, he spent two of those three years studying for a master's degree at a civilian university," Tang said.
"What more did he want from the military? If he bore any discontent with the military for it [not doing enough for him], where is the justice?" an angry Tang said.
Tang made the comments yesterday at a meeting of the defense committee at the legislature as he delivered a report on the military's handling of Lin's case. The report includes a detailed account of how Lin was discovered to have gone missing from his base in Kinmen 23 years ago.
In the report, Tang called Lin a traitor who should be brought to justice if he returns to Taiwan.
"A traitor is a traitor. There is no other term for him as a man who abandoned the country for the enemy. No matter what happens, no ROC citizen should desert this country," Tang said.
"Lin should feel ashamed for his desertion of the country at a time when the two sides of the Taiwan Strait were in a war-like state.
"The military is strongly opposed to Lin's application to return to Taiwan to attend his father's funeral. If we let him come back, how can we maintain discipline in the military?" he said.
The condemnation is the military's strongest since Lin, now a renowned economist in China, asked for permission to return to Taiwan last month.
Tang said the military has started legal proceedings against Lin but did not explain what kind of action the military might take.
According to criminal law, Lin should be exempt from prosecution because he has been at large for more than 20 years.
But the military believes it is still able to prosecute Lin's case because the alleged offenses were acts that betrayed the country. Such acts can be prosecuted within 25 years of their being committed.
Director of the Ministry of National Defense's Bureau of Military Justice Liu Chin-an (劉錦安) said just when Lin deserted is unclear.
Some military officials suggest that Lin's eligibility for prosecution under the statute of limitations should begin from the time he identified himself in public as the Taiwanese officer who defected to China in 1979. It has yet to be determined in what year Lin exposed his former identity in Taiwan.
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