Taiwan plans to reinstate military judges to hear Chinese espionage cases and other offenses involving Taiwanese service members, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday.
There would be a review and legal amendments “to reinstate the military trial system,” he told reporters after a national security meeting.
“Military judges will return to the front line,” Lai said.
Photo: CNA
Military judges would work “alongside prosecutorial and judicial agencies to handle criminal cases involving active-duty military personnel accused of treason, aiding the enemy, leaking classified information, dereliction of duty, insubordination and other military offenses,” he said.
The number of people prosecuted for spying for Beijing has risen sharply, with retired and serving members of the military the main targets of Chinese infiltration efforts, official figures show.
The National Security Bureau previously said that 64 people were prosecuted for Chinese espionage last year, compared with 48 in 2023 and 10 in 2022.
Civil courts have received more than 300 new military cases annually over the past three years, Judicial Yuan data showed.
Taiwan disbanded the military court system after the death of a young corporal in 2013.
Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) died of heatstroke on July 4, 2013, just three days before the end of his compulsory year-long military service.
The changes would apply to crimes committed by serving members of the military during peacetime.
They would have to be approved by the opposition-controlled legislature, said Ryan Chen (陳彥?), a lawyer and executive committee member of the Judicial Reform Foundation.
Previous concerns about the military trial system included the lack of independence of judges and prosecutors, and transparency of the judicial process, the National Human Rights Museum says on its Web site.
Former New Power Party legislator Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸), who is the sister of the late conscript, expressed concern about the potential for abuse.
“The Code of Court Martial Procedure [軍事審判法] was revised to end the harmful influence of military trials during the authoritarian period,” she said. “Now that President Lai wants to conditionally restart [military trials] against ‘foreign hostile forces,’ the supporting measures must be sufficient.”
Lai defended the reinstatement of military judges and other measures to counter Chinese infiltration, citing cases of Taiwanese individuals forming “treasonous organizations to aid China’s armed forces buildup” within Taiwan.
“China has used democratic Taiwan’s freedom and diverse openness to absorb gangsters, media personnel, commentators, political parties, and even active and retired military and police personnel to carry out activities such as division, destruction and subversion amongst us,” Lai said.
“We have no choice but to take more proactive actions,” he added.
At a separate news conference yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense acknowledged military courts’ checkered history and vowed to conduct a comprehensive review to ensure due process is upheld.
Officers who commit military-related offenses would be tried in military courts, while those accused of general criminal offenses would fall under the jurisdiction of civilian courts, the ministry said.
Active-duty military officers who commit offenses listed in Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍刑法), such as offenses against allegiance to the nation, would face military trials, while crimes listed in Part 3 of the code would be handled by the judiciary, the ministry said.
The ministry also said it would establish military courts and prosecutors’ offices in appropriate regions in accordance with the Organization Act of the Ministry of National Defense (國防部組織法).
Organizational acts would be written to regulate the new authorities and uphold their independence, it added.
It also vowed to create a personnel management act to regulate the appointments, dismissals, promotions, transfers and evaluations of military judges based on the Judges Act (法官法) to ensure fairness and independence.
Prospective military judges should have military experience, as the cases they handle would revolve around military affairs, it added.
The ministry is to comprehensively examine and amend the Military Trial Act (軍事審判法) in accordance with the principle of fair trials and legitimate legal procedures, while also ensuring human rights, upholding military discipline and safeguarding national security, it said.
The armed forces had made various attempts to train military judges to also serve as prosecutors to ensure tribunals could function during wartime, but these efforts had limited success, the ministry said.
A comprehensive internal review suggested that functioning military tribunals must be maintained during peacetime to ensure they retain the capability to enforce military discipline and protect human rights at war, it added.
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
More than 8,000 people took part in a rally in Taipei yesterday to express support for more defense spending, after the opposition slashed the Cabinet’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.6 billion) special defense budget and capped it at NT$780 billion. The demonstrators urged the Cabinet to propose another bill. Taiwan Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said the main problem of the passed budget plan is the removal of funding for critical items, not just that the total amount is smaller. Critical budget items included purchasing or developing uncrewed vehicles, Strong Bow (強弓) missile systems, additional ammunition, artificial intelligence-powered combat systems and Taiwan-US
RSS