The cousin of Lien Fang Yu (連方瑀), wife of KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), has nothing to do with a spy case which has been a cause celebre in the last few days, the KMT said yesterday.
"It is true that Lien's cousin's company has been doing business with the Ministry of National Defense's Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology (中科院). But this does not mean that his company is also involved in the spy case," said KMT spokesman Alex Tsai (蔡正元).
"I do not believe that this rumor will affect our campaign in next year's presidential election because our voters are smart enough to tell from truth and falsehood," Tsai said.
The spy case was first made public on Tuesday night, when special agents arrested suspects Yeh Yu-chen (葉裕鎮), Chen Shih-liang (陳士良) and Howard Hsu (許希哲) on espionage charges concerning the alleged sale of classified military information to China.
Yeh is a businessman and also an owner of a high-tech company. Chen is a senior researcher for the institute's Electronic Systems Research Division. Hsu is a retired Boeing technician. The three allegedly sold Taiwan's military secrets, such as the details of P-3C anti-submarine aircraft procurement plans and military troop deployment, to China over a 10-year period.
Taiwan High Court Prosecutor Wu Shen-chih (吳慎志) is investigating the case and his request to detain Yeh, Chen and Hsu was approved by the Taiwan High Court immediately after a short interrogation.
Tsai was responding to a news story in a Chinese-language newspaper yesterday claiming that Liao Mu-bin (廖穆斌), manager of the Lingteh High-tech Co, was being interrogated by Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau agents regarding his possible involvement in the spy case since the company has been doing business with the institute from which classified information was leaked.
Coincidentally, Wang Chih-cheng (汪積成), Lien Fang-yu's uncle, is the owner of the company and his son, Wang Shih-yi, (汪士毅) is the company's vice general-manager. The story strongly implied that both Wangs were involved in the case.
Prosecutors have, as a routine procedure, begun to investigate all companies with close ties to the institute. But the KMT was quick to point out that this does not, in itself, mean that any particular company is involved in the espionage case.
"These sort of false accusations mean nothing," Tsai said.
"The only relationship between the institute and Lien's family is a business relationship," he said.
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