Taiwan Quick Take: Two officers go missing

Two military intelligence officers have gone missing on the China-Vietnam border and may have been arrested by Chinese agents, a report in a local newspaper said yesterday. The colonels, identified only by their last names, Hsu and Chu, work for the military intelligence bureau and traveled to Vietnam in late May, according to a report in the China Times. The men have failed to contact their families and the paper cited unidentified sources as saying that the officers may have been arrested by Chinese agents or kidnapped by gangsters. However, since neither the military intelligence bureau nor the men's families have received a ransom demand, the bureau suspects the two were nabbed by Chinese agents. The newspaper report said the purpose of the trip to Vietnam was classified, but added that it was likely that the intelligence officers were making contact with informants in China's People's Liberation Army. Chinese authorities have not commented on the matter.