A total of 390 members of the 601st Air Cavalry Brigade provided private tours of the base to family members and others over the past two years, but only five officers — including Lieutenant Colonel Lao Nai-cheng (勞乃成) — had allowed them in without proper authorization, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
Following an internal investigation by a task force headed by the military’s inspector-general, the ministry released the number of authorized and unauthorized visits to the 601st and 602nd brigades — the army’s elite airborne units that include detachments of advanced attack helicopters from the US.
“A total of 390 members of the 601st Brigade had provided tours to family members and relatives over the past two years. Of those, 385 had followed the proper procedures, and these are deemed authorized tours. Five officers did not follow procedures, and the tours they conducted were unauthorized,” ministry spokesperson Major General David Lo (羅紹和) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The five service members included Lao and former brigade commander Major General Chien Tsung-yuan (簡聰淵), who have been given demerits and removed from their posts, along with three other officers, whom the ministry did not identify.
Lo said that it is within military regulations to allow family members and relatives to visit the bases.
“Furthermore, all military bases and naval ports conduct annual open house and family visit days for members of the public, at which people can enter and have a good look around to gain a better understanding of the activities of and conditions for military personnel,” he said.
As for the 602nd Brigade, Lo said 202 staffers were found to have provided authorized tours for families and friends, and only one officer conducted an unauthorized tour over the past five years.
Meanwhile, a media commentator was quoted as saying on Thursday night that the Japanese man who joined the unauthorized March 29 tour that Lao gave showbiz personality Janet Lee (李蒨蓉) and others works for one of the main intelligence-gathering agencies of Japan.
The man, surnamed Hirayama, is the boyfriend of Lao’s sister-in-law, Chiu Ya-chi (邱雅琦), and works for Nomura Research Institute (NRI), one of Japan’s three main intelligence-gathering institutions, media commentator Lucifer Chu (朱學恒) said on a TV talk show.
“Hirayama is a young man of 25, yet he was promoted to a researcher at the NRI after only one year on the job. Why did he enter the 601st Brigade base? What was his real motivation? Was there something he wanted to see?” Chu asked.
The NRI is a private think tank, but is closely affiliated with the Japanese government, Chu said.
It has a team of researchers and analysts for business and technology intelligence, and many of its staff later become top officials in the Japanese government, he said.
Established in 1965, the NRI was Japan’s first private think tank.
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