Major General Hsieh Chia-kang (謝嘉康) of the Matsu Defense Command was questioned yesterday following allegations that he has been compromised by Chinese intelligence.
The Ministry of National Defense had received information claiming that Hsieh had been turned by Chinese intelligence operatives, the Kaohsiung branch of the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau said.
The ministry said it had received reports that a Taiwanese allegedly on China’s payroll has been meeting with Hsieh to both acquire military secrets and to set up a spy ring.
Photo: CNA, courtesy of the “Matsu Daily News”
The reports also allege that Hsieh, under the guise of traveling abroad, has been contacted by and treated to luxuries by Chinese intelligence operatives during the trips, the ministry said.
As a former commander of the Air Defense Missile Command, Hsieh is fully briefed on all of the nation’s deployed missiles, including the Patriot III, the Tien Kung III and the Hsiung Feng 2E cruise missile.
If Hsieh has been compromised it could mean Beijing has obtained information about Taiwan’s missiles, the bureau said.
The defense ministry cited the confidentiality of information in a case involving a judicial investigation and declined to comment.
The military’s anti-espionage efforts must not be relaxed in any way, as threats to national security mount by the day, the ministry said, adding that it is calling on all serving personnel to be on heightened alert for suspected espionage.
Following the Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) incident in 2013, the Legislative Yuan amended the Code of Court Martial Procedure (軍事審判法) and removed certain crimes from the jurisdiction of martial courts and placed them under the ordinary court system.
Hung, an army corporal, collapsed from heatstroke after being forced to perform a series of strenuous exercises in a confinement facility on July 3, 2013, and died a day later in hospital, two days before he was due to be discharged after completing his year-long compulsory military service.
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