Sixty-two military personnel held Chinese residence permits, including two volunteer service members, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said at the legislature in Taipei yesterday, citing a probe that ended last month.
None of the personnel had Chinese passports, ID cards or permanent residency status, Koo told a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
The personnel have been barred from combat operation centers, as well as units that handle sensitive information such as intelligence collection, information and communications, and research and development, he said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
They also cannot be aides to commanding officers, he added.
Those with Chinese residency are also prevented from serving in aviation or naval units, and cannot operate new weapons systems, Koo said.
Media in February reported that a sailor surnamed Yang (楊) had obtained a Chinese ID card without his knowledge after his mother, a Chinese national who gained Taiwanese residency after marriage, applied on his behalf.
Yang said he wanted to renounce his Chinese citizenship.
The Ministry of National Defense in the past few days said that it had helped Yang declare his intent to the National Immigration Agency to retain his Taiwanese nationality.
Yang has been reassigned to a position that does not involve sensitive or classified information, the defense ministry said.
The screening process would be tightened to require volunteer service members to declare upon application that they hold no dual nationality or residency, it said.
The committee yesterday reviewed draft amendments to the Act of Military Service for Officers and Non-commissioned Officers of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍軍官士官服役條例) that would strip the military pensions of service members convicted of and imprisoned for rebellion, treason or contraventions of the National Security Act (國安法) during active service or after retirement.
Koo said that on Jan. 1, he approved 54 additional positions for the counterintelligence unit and personnel are being recruited to fill them.
Koo was also asked about shipbuilding.
Asked whether Taiwan would boost cooperation with the US in shipbuilding and ship-repair operations, Koo said that Taiwan “intends to do so,” without elaborating.
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