Remote sensing scientist Chen Kun-shan (陳錕山) was not involved in any sensitive research projects in Taiwan before he defected to China, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
Chen, head of the Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research at National Central University (NCU) since 2001, disappeared in September last year. He is now working at China’s State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science under Beijing’s high-profile “Thousand Talents Program,” which seeks to attract overseas scientists.
In a front-page story yesterday, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) cited an intelligence source as saying that Chen’s defection posed a “serious threat” to Taiwan’s national security.
Photo: Hsieh Wen-hua, Taipei Times
As head of the center, Chen had access to satellite images covering Taiwan and China’s military deployments, and was in a category of government employees with access to state secrets and restricted from visiting China, the report said.
However, Ministry of Defense spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) yesterday said that Chen had undertaken research projects commissioned by the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST, 中山科學研究院) and the ministry’s Communications Development Office, all of which were academic in nature and unrelated to key military technologies.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Education Secretary-General Wang Tsuo-tai (王作台) said that Chen was suspended by the university in November last year, two months after he went absent without leave.
Wang said the university learned through Chinese media reports in March that Chen had been hired to work at State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science.
The reports were later verified with Beijing through the Mainland Affairs Council, he added.
The university confirmed yesterday that it had decided on April 7 to dismiss Chen and had submitted his case to the Ministry of Education for final approval.
Kainan University vice president David Huang (黃適卓) yesterday lambasted Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧), accusing the education ministry of failing to implement proper preventive mechanisms on cross-strait academic interaction.
Huang said Chiang should take full responsibility for what he described as a “national security fiasco” and step down, as Chuang had been instrumental in promoting the disloyal Chen to his position at the NCU center.
Huang said China has long coveted Taiwanese technology and has been using the guise of academic interaction to implement its “united front” rhetoric.
Huang said that China is still absorbing what it can of Taiwan’s academic research, especially in nanotechnology, agricultural sciences and husbandry, and information technology, in which Taiwan has made significant advances.
Cooperation between academia and the military has a long history, and many military projects have sought the participation of educators, Huang said, adding that these professors have been targeted by Chinese intelligence for contact.
Before both sides of the Taiwan Strait agreed to academic exchanges, contacting Taiwanese academics had been the job of Taiwanese businesspeople in China, Huang said, adding that after academic exchanges were approved, China has used that channel to contact educators directly.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting
RSS