CRIME
Men charged with spying
Kaohsiung prosecutors yesterday indicted three retired military officers for allegedly providing China with military intelligence, a breach of the National Security Act (國家安全法). One of the three is a former military intelligence officer surnamed Tsui (崔). After retiring in 1988, he lived in China and returned to Taiwan in 2013, prosecutors said. While in China, Tsui opened a restaurant with another Taiwanese man, surnamed Lee (李), a former counterintelligence officer, prosecutors said. The third man involved in the case is a retired colonel surnamed Yeh (葉). The three men were found to be in contact with active-duty or retired military officers, gathering information that they handed to Chinese national security officers, prosecutors said. They also helped develop an organization for state agencies in China and handed over confidential documents. The men spied for China in return for personal gain, free travel and preferential treatment for their business in China, prosecutors said.
TOURISM
E-visa program expanded
The government has expanded its e-visa program to include travelers from nine more countries with immediate effect, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Six of the new additions are in the Middle East: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The other three are the Commonwealth of Dominica, Montenegro and the Philippines. The Philippines is being included in the program on a trial basis for one year, the ministry said. The e-visa program, which allows foreign visitors to apply online for entry visas, was launched on Jan. 12 as part of an effort to boost tourism. The latest expansion is aimed at attracting more high-end Muslim visitors, the ministry said.
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