The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said an army officer had been transferred after one of his relatives was found to have been allegedly involved in espionage.
Media reports said Army Major General Wu Chin-chun (吳金駿), who originally headed the ministry’s legislative liaison office, was transferred to a non-leadership position last week over his relative’s alleged involvement in a case in which Chang Chih-hsin (張祉鑫), a former chief officer in charge of political warfare at the Naval Meteorology Oceanography Office, was detained in September last year on suspicion of obtaining classified information from former military colleagues and using it for illegal gain.
Minsitry spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) said Wu had been temporarily reassigned to help with the investigation into his relative’s alleged role in the case.
He did not elaborate.
Wu, reportedly a trusted aide to Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱), was the second senior military officer to be named in as many days as having been transferred after Chang’s suspected leaks of submarine nautical charts to China.
On Monday, the ministry confirmed that a rear admiral had been questioned by military prosecutors the previous week in connection with the investigation.
The ministry stopped short of revealing the officer’s name, although reports on Monday pointed to Admiral Hsu Chung-hua (徐中華).
The Chinese-language United Daily News (UDN) first reported the new twist in the case that same day.
It said that a senior naval officer in active service was questioned the previous week and transferred to Navy Command Headquarters to facilitate follow-up inquiries after serving as a fleet commander.
The paper also reported that Chang, along with a lieutenant at Naval Fleet Command and a retired missile officer in the navy, had been detained and indicted on charges of leaking military secrets for illegal gain.
Yesterday, the UDN revealed Wu’s relative’s alleged connection with the case.
The paper said military prosecutors were still questioning Wu’s relative to determine whether to summon Wu for questioning.
Although the ministry confirmed the arrest of Chang for the first time in October last year, it denied that his actions resulted in the exposure of military secrets.
The ministry said at that time that the ministry had taken anti-espionage measures to minimize the possible risk of exposure of classified intelligence thanks to early tipoffs.
The UDN quoted military sources as saying that if the naval officer is found to have been involved in spying, it would represent the worst espionage scandal since the case of Lo Hsien-che (羅賢哲), an army general who was lured by a “honey trap” sting into spying for China during his posting at Taiwan’s representative office in Thailand.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard