The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it had not ruled out taking legal action against film director Doze Niu (鈕承澤) for helping a Chinese cinematographer enter a military base and board a navy vessel.
Navy Command Headquarters said Niu and a 23-member production team visited the Zuoying (左營) military port in Greater Kaohsiung on June 1 to scout for locations for his new film, Military Paradise (軍中樂園), which is scheduled to begin shooting next month.
Although security officers asked to look at the team members’ national ID cards before they entered the port, the military later discovered that Chinese photographer Cao Yu (曹郁) had entered the base by using the identity of a Republic of China (ROC) citizen, the headquarters said.
Niu and his team boarded an LST-208 vessel, but were only allowed to take photographs of part of the outdated ship, the headquarters said.
The ministry said it had warned Niu against violating regulations governing the protection of military secrets two times before his visit.
The navy said yesterday that it would review the incident to see if there had been any negligence on its part, adding that it would turn over evidence about the team’s visit to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office today for an investigation.
When reached for comment yesterday morning, ministry spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) said the ministry would take legal action against Niu if he broke the law.
“Given that Niu’s actions violated the principle of good faith and our agreement that no Chinese citizens would enter the military base, the ministry is considering whether to end its assistance for his film shoot,” Lo said.
The military has provided assistance to several TV stations and movie companies in producing shows and films with military links in the past, and none had ever violated regulations, Lo said.
Niu offered an apology on his Facebook page yesterday.
“I might have gone overboard in order to make a better film,” he wrote.
“The recent events have given me a chance to reflect on myself. Film directors always resort to every conceivable means to make a good movie, but it is about time that we do some self-reflection. I should be more humble and gentle, and should be more grateful and respectful of everything,” he wrote.
Sources familiar with the law said Cao could be guilty of document forgery and violating Article 10 of the Vital Area Regulations (要塞堡壘地帶法) if he entered the port using a ROC citizen’s ID card.
Cao may have also violated Article 111 of the Criminal Code and the National Security Act (國家安全法) if he photographed or filmed other naval facilities, the sources said.
Under Article 111, any person who illegally gathers information concerning the defense of the ROC could face imprisonment.
Cao has twice won photography awards at the Golden Horse movie festival.
Additional reporting by AP
This story has been corrected since published to reflect that Cao Yu is a cinematographer, not a photographer.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
One person was killed and another seven injured today when a tourist shuttle bus plunged 30m to 40m down a ravine in Nantou County, the Tourism Administration said. The bus is suspected to have suddenly accelerated out of control near the flower center of the Sun-Link-Sea Forest Recreation Area, a popular attraction during cherry blossom season. Of the eight onboard, a 66-year-old man was killed, four were seriously injured and three sustained minor injuries, including the driver. The Nantou County Police Department said it received a report of the incident at 12:15pm and dispatched seven teams to assist. All surviving passengers have been transferred
RSS