The Military Intelligence Bureau has denied compensation to a man who was caught in China in 2006 and incarcerated for four years for allegedly spying — on the grounds that he was not a bureau personnel.
The 40-plus-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), who comes from a relatively well-off family, often went to China on tours and was introduced to his handlers — surnamed Lo (羅) and Chen — by a friend, surnamed Wu (吳), who said they were employees of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC).
The two, who actually worked for the bureau, told Chen they hoped he would be able to bring back some information for them during his travels in China, which they could use to get funds and pay for his plane tickets.
Under the guise of being MAC personnel, the two bureau employees were said to have asked Chen to bring back local newspapers and maps from Zhejiang, Ningbo and Zhoushan, saying they wanted to get some information on places where they could set up factories.
When he returned to Taiwan and “debriefed” his two handlers, they told him the information was insufficient to subsidize his plane fare and asked him, on his next visit, to get the location of ports where military vessels entered and exited, as well as published materials of Taiwanese accused of being spies for Taiwan.
From 2003 until 2006, Chen was said to have brought back the information his handlers wanted under the guise of being a tourist, but in September 2006, he was arrested by the Chinese Ministry of State Security in Taishan, Guangdong Province, and sentenced to four years in jail for acting as a source for the bureau.
Chen said he only learned in court that the officials he thought he was working for were actually Military Intelligence Bureau personnel.
“If I really were a Taiwanese spy, China would have jailed me for more than a decade,” Chen said.
“They [Taiwanese authorities] didn’t even come to my help as required by law when I was incarcerated, and they didn’t even compensate me when I was released,” Chen said.
The bureau said on Sunday it had denied his request for compensation in accordance with the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法).
It said that compensation or subsidies would be legally given to intelligence officers, former -intelligence officers or intelligence sources who were arrested. However, no compensation or subsidies can be given in cases that were not documented.
Compensation for intelligence sources who are arrested is a matter of privacy, the bureau said, adding that as Chen’s case was in the appeal process, it would be inappropriate to comment on the matter.
TRANSLATED BY JAKE CHUNG, STAFF WRITER
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai