Prosecutors yesterday said they are investigating accusations of interference with the nation’s submarine program and that details of it were leaked, in what would be a serious breach of national security.
Taiwan unveiled its first domestically developed submarine on Thursday last week, a major step in a project aimed at bolstering the nation’s defense and deterrence in the face of military threats from China, although it would not enter service for two years.
Indigenous Defense Submarine program head Huang Shu-kuang (黃曙光) told local media last week that lawmakers, whom he did not name, had made it “difficult” for the program to purchase critical equipment, and that a contractor who had failed to obtain a bid had forwarded information to China.
Photo: CNA
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, in a short statement, said that Huang’s accusations had attracted “great attention” given the national security and defense implications.
It said it had instructed prosecutors to “investigate the case as soon as possible to safeguard national security.”
Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) yesterday said that the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau are investigating the case.
Photo: EPA-EFE / Presidential Office
Following Huang’s remarks, retired navy captain Kuo Hsi (郭璽) on Thursday said that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) was the legislator in question and had shared information with China, prompting Ma to file a slander suit against Kuo at the Nantou District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday.
Kuo yesterday filed civil and criminal lawsuits against Ma at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, accusing her of leaking confidential information about the submarine to national security agencies in other countries.
Ma yesterday asked Huang to name those he had accused.
She said that she would be willing to perform seppuku — the Japanese ritual of committing suicide by disembowelment followed by decapitation — if she had ever given confidential information to China.
The KMT supported Ma, saying she was doing her job as a lawmaker by keeping the government in check and pointing out that it made no sense to budget billions of dollars for seven submarines when the submarine prototype had not even undergone testing.
The Democratic Progressive Party could not solve a problem, so it attacked the person who pointed out the problem, KMT spokesman Lin Chia-hsing (林家興) said.
Kuo’s accusation was blatant political maneuvering, he said.
“If confidential information was really leaked [by Ma], why was it not dealt with by the judiciary earlier,” he said, adding that the issue had been brought up just before the presidential and legislative elections in January.
FRIDAY, SATURDAY: While Typhoon Champi might weaken, officials warned about large waves, while some transport services and tourist spots have been affected Typhoon Champi is forecast to have the greatest effect on Taiwan tomorrow and on Saturday, with a sea warning issued late last night and a land warning expected afternoon today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm’s projected track has shifted slightly westward and it could begin moving away from Taiwan toward Japan’s Kyushu island on Saturday, with the warnings potentially lifted as early as Saturday afternoon, CWA forecaster Chang Cheng-chuan (張承傳) said. As of yesterday afternoon, Champi was about 910km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, CWA data showed. Its maximum sustained winds had weakened slightly to
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday urged China not to exploit typhoons to assert jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait. The CGA issued the remarks after it found that China was shadowing eight Japan Coast Guard ships that sheltered in Taiwan proper’s western waters due to Typhoon Champi. Eight Japan Coast Guard (JCG) vessels sailed southward along the Taiwan Strait median line from 6am on Thursday, reaching waters southwest of Penghu County’s Cimei Island (七美島), outside Taiwan’s contiguous zone, which extends 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the territorial sea baseline, it said. As the Japanese ships prepared for the typhoon, they were followed by
STAY CAUTIOUS: Rain is expected to begin easing this afternoon, but a CWA forecaster said that if the storm stalls or loops on its approach, heavy winds are likely Typhoon Champi, which caused widespread damage and injuries, and prompted road closures and evacuations across Taiwan yesterday, is expected to continue to bring heavy rain this morning, with up to 900mm of rain forecast for mountainous areas of New Taipei City, Taoyuan and Yilan County, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. At one point a super typhoon and one of the strongest storms in the Pacific this year, Champi was packing gusts of about 191kph near its center as of 8:30pm, the CWA said. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Hsinchu city and county, Taichung; and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin
TOTAL COVERAGE: Champi’s outer band is expected to blanket the entire nation, with the center coming closest tonight or tomorrow before leaving tomorrow evening School and work across most of the nation has been canceled today, as Typhoon Champi is expected to skirt the northeast edge of Taiwan proper. As of 9pm, all municipalities except for Kinmen County had announced cancelations. Taitung County last night announced closures on Green Island (綠島) and Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼), but did not announce for the rest of the county until 6am today. Stock market settlements scheduled for today would be postponed to the next business day, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said. The announcements came after the Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday expanded its land warning for Champi to 19 regions
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