Lieutenant Colonel Lao Nai-cheng (勞乃成), an Apache helicopter pilot at the center of a controversy over a visit by a group of civilians on March 29 to a restricted military base in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭) housing US-made AH-64E Apache helicopters, was released yesterday morning on bail of NT$500,000 (US$15,972), as the ongoing judicial probe also subpoenaed another 12 individuals associated with the incident.
Lao is likely to face further legal action, as investigators found there were also six foreign nationals in the entourage which entered the military base.
Among the six was one Japanese man — described as the boyfriend of Lao’s sister-in-law, Chiu Ya-chi (邱雅琦) — surnamed Hirayama, and five migrant workers from Southeast Asia, who work as household maids or caregivers and were tending to the seven children in the 26-person group.
After being released on bail yesterday, Lao headed back to the 601st Air Cavalry Brigade base in Longtan. A military spokesperson said Lao has been confined to his barracks, and his movements monitored and restricted.
The prosecutors released 11 civilians, including Lee, after questioning. All 12 being questioned were also placed under exit control, to prevent them fleeing the country.
Prosecutors on Sunday went to 14 residences to seize evidence. They took computers, smartphones, cameras, USB sticks and memory cards, which might contain photographs or other recordings of their visit to the military base.
Prosecutors said Lao could be charged with taking unauthorized personnel to the restricted military area and the leaking of classified materials, and had likely breached articles in the National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), the Punishment Act of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍懲罰法) and the Vital Area Regulations (要塞堡壘地帶法).
A spokesperson said if found guilty, Lao could face a jail term of up to 10 years, and if guilty of multiple violations, the jail sentence could be up to 15 years.
In reviewing videos from the surveillance cameras at the base and other evidence, prosecutors said Lao and Lee did not register all the individuals in the group, which drove six cars to the Apache helicopter hangar area after getting past the entrance checkpoint.
“In the videos, we found the kids were running around inside the hangar as though it was an amusement park, while the adults took turns posing for pictures with the Apache helicopter,” an official from the prosecutors’ office said.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS