Taiwan has arrested 17 military officers and civilians on suspicion of passing secrets to China, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
Senior officers said information leaked from the Ministry of National Defense included details about Chinese military exercises, but not more sensitive information about missile systems or secret codes.
A ministry statement said the key figure in the alleged spy ring was Major Chuang Poh-hsing (
PHOTO: AFP
"The documents he leaked included information about annual military exercises by China's navy and air force ... but no missile, radar, or secret information codes," Lieutenant General Li Hsiang-chou (李翔宙), the department's chief, told reporters.
The information about China's exercises would be of interest to Beijing because it could indicate what Taiwan knew about China's military capabilities, the military said.
Chuang was believed to have had no access to the department's most sensitive information because he had been employed there for only one year at a low security level, Li said.
Chuang, who worked at the department's office in Linkou, allegedly handed the information to a retired officer, Huang Yao-chung (
Huang was among those arrested Tuesday.
Investigators said they uncovered the spy ring after the coast guard found that a suspect arrested last September for smuggling guns and drugs was also involved in passing confidential information to China and making fake credit cards.
The leader of the credit-card forgers, Su Tung-hung, was among the other suspects arrested on Tuesday, when more than 200 investigators searched 20 locations and found dozens of secret documents, as well as more than NT$100 million (US$3 million) worth of machinery used to produce fake cards, the Ministry of Justice said.
One of the premises searched was Chuang's home, where investigators found suspicious documents, Li said.
The defense ministry said it would boost security to "effectively track down and attack any illegal leaking of secrets, and block the infiltration of intelligence-gathering channels by Communist China."
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS