June, 1991 Taiwan takes delivery of four German-made minesweepers, purchased as "multi-purpose coastal boats" for the state-run Chinese Petroleum Corporation.
Aug, 1991 Taiwan signs Lafayette frigate deal with France.
April, 1993 The Central Trust of Taiwan signs, on behalf of the navy, a deal with an Italian company for a survey ship.
May, 1993 Navy General Headquarters' weapons procurement office is inaugurated, with Captain Yin as its chief executive. Yin was scheduled for promotion to rear admiral at the beginning of the following year.
Sept, 1933 Captain Yin visits France in connection with the Lafayette frigate deal, accompanied by procurement office colleague Captain Kuo Li-heng (
Nov, 1993 Letter of accusation against Yin, Kuo and many other naval officers is sent to the Presidential Office. It accuses Yin of receiving NT$5 million in bribes from an arms broker mediating the navy's purchase of a survey ship from an Italian company.
Dec 8, 1993 Yin takes action to fight the allegations. He visits, at night, three key people involved in the minesweeper, frigate and survey ship deals and secretly records conversations with them. The three are a military official and two former naval officials who became arms brokers after retirement. Yin is accompanied by Kuo on two of the visits.
Dec 9, 1993 Yin goes missing at around 8:50am after going to meet somebody for breakfast near Navy General Headquarters in Taipei's suburban Tachih district.
Dec 10, 1993 Yin's body is found off Suao (
Dec 11, 1993 The first of two cassette tapes recording conversations between Yin and the three key arms purchasers is recovered. It is later, suspiciously, demagnetized. Navy investigators, who obtained access to the tapes before anybody else, include Rear Admiral Liu Chin-an (劉錦安), currently director of the Ministry of National Defense's Judge Advocates Bureau, Rear Admiral Li Kun-tsai (李昆材), then director of Navy General Headquarters' weapons procurement office, and several others.
Dec 15, 1993 The murder is reported by the press despite a gagging order imposed by the military.
Dec 16, 1993 Yin's colleague, Kuo, is taken into custody for suspected links to the murder.
Dec 18, 1993 An autopsy by Taiwan's top coroner, Yang Jih-sung (楊日松), finds evidence that Yin might have been murdered.
Dec 20, 1993 Andrew Wang (
Jan 1, 1994 Lawmaker Chu Kao-cheng (
Jan 21, 1994 Shan Yi-chen (單亦誠), an arms broker who had tried to mediate Taiwan's purchase of minesweepers from Germany, flees the country amid suspicions of his involvement in the Yin murder. Shan was alleged to have bribed Kuo Li-heng with NT$2.5 million in an attempt to win a contract for parts provision for the German-made mine sweepers.
Feb. 14, 1994 Tu, the German arms agent, meets in Singapore with members of a task force investigating the Yin murder. Tu denies any connection with or knowledge of the murder.
March 18, 1994 Then lawmaker Chen Shui-bian (
April 19, 1994 Chen accuses navy Captain Chen Kuo-hsiang (
Oct 1994 Kuo Li-heng is sentenced to life for leaking military secrets and taking NT$12 million in bribes from arms brokers.
May, 1995 Ex-navy Deputy Commander-in-Chief Cheng Li-cheng (
Oct 1996 Commission-taking scandal surrounding the Lafayette frigate deal between Taiwan and France is exposed by the French media.
Nov 1996 Yang I-li (
March, 1997 Yin's widow, Li Mei-kuei (
March, 1998 Yin's younger brother, Yin Ching-luan (尹清楓), accuses Admiral Liu Ho-chien (劉和謙), who had been chief of the general staff at the time of the murder, of behind-the-scenes involvement in the Yin murder.
July 3, 2000 Arms broker Shan Yi-chen (
WHEELING AND DEALING? Hou You-yi, Ko Wen-je, Eric Chu and Ma Ying-jeou are under investigation for allegedly offering bribes for the other side to drop out of the race Taipei prosecutors have started an investigation into allegations that four top politicians involved in attempts to form a “blue-white” presidential ticket have contravened election regulations. Listed as defendants are Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲). The case stemmed from judicial complaints filed last month with the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office alleging that the KMT (blue) and the TPP (white) had engaged in bribery by offering money or other enticements
EXPOSED: Some Taipei wardens reported joining the trips out of peer pressure, while others said they were relieved it was made public so they could refuse, a city councilor said Nearly 30 percent of Taipei borough wardens have joined group tours to China that were partially funded by the Chinese government, leading prosecutors probing potential Chinese interference in January’s elections to question local officials, an investigation showed. Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City councilors Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) and Chen E-jun (陳怡君) have reported cases of Taipei borough wardens inviting residents to join inexpensive privately organized group tours to China that were partially funded by the Chinese government. The six-day trips reportedly cost NT$10,000 to NT$15,000, the councilors said. An investigation by the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) showed that nearly 30 percent
ELIGIBLE FOR JANUARY: All presidential candidates and their running mates meet the requirements to run for office, and none hold dual citizenship, the CEC said Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator and vice presidential candidate Cynthia Wu (吳欣盈) is working with the Central Election Commission (CEC) to resolve issues with her financial disclosure statement, a spokesman for the candidate said yesterday, after the commission published the statements of all three presidential candidates and their running mates, while confirming their eligibility to run in the Jan. 13 election. Wu’s office spokesman, Chen Yu-cheng (陳宥丞), said the candidate encountered unforeseen difficulties disclosing her husband’s finances due to being suddenly thrust into the campaign. She is also the first vice presidential nominee to have a foreign spouse, complicating the reporting of
GOOD NEWS: Although open civic spaces are shrinking in Asia-Pacific countries and territories, Taiwan’s openness is a positive sign, an expert said Taiwan remains the only country in Asia with an “open” civic space for the fifth consecutive year, the Civicus Monitor said in a report released yesterday. The People Power Under Attack 2023 report named Taiwan as one of only 37 open countries or territories out of 198 globally, and the only one in Asia. Compiled by Civicus — a global alliance of civil society organizations dedicated to bolstering civil action — the ranking compiled annually since 2017 measures the state of freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression around the world. Researchers assign each country or territory one of five rankings describing the
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