Fri, May 31, 2002 page3

• Military officials, lawmakers have doubts about Lin

  • By Jimmy Chuang / STAFF REPORTER
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  Retired military officials and several lawmakers expressed misgivings yesterday about allowing a former Taiwanese army officer who defected to China in 1979 to come home.

  Justin Lin (林毅夫) -- who was known as Lin Cheng-yi (林正義) before he swam from Kinmen to China with stolen military secrets -- wants to return to Taiwan to attend his father's funeral on Tuesday.

  But former military officials and lawmakers say allowing Lin to return would undermine morale in the armed services. The ex-army officer has never been punished for his betrayal of Taiwan, they say, and Lin's return would mock the principles of loyalty and duty required of today's military personnel.

  "Lin has betrayed the country and now he wants to return here to honor his family," said one official at the Ministry of National Defense.

  Although Lin may be permitted to attend his father's funeral for humanitarian reasons, the official said, his homecoming would hurt the morale.

  "We need discipline and standards of right and wrong to believe in and to follow," the military official said.

  If Lin is allowed to return, he wouldn't likely be punished for his defection. According to Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) on Wednesday, the statute of limitations for treason under the Criminal Code is 20 years. From a legal standpoint, there wouldn't be any problem with Lin's visit.

  Still, while Lin's proposed return isn't troubled by legal complications, some are uncomfortable in allowing back a person who they say has brought disgrace and dishonor to Taiwan and the nation's military.

  DPP Legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) said the former army officer should be punished -- regardless of the lack of legal authority.

  "If he is not charged, punished or anything, how can our military retain its dignity?" Lin said. If the ex-officer comes back, "It would seem very ironic for those soldiers who are faithful to the country."

  TSU legislative caucus leader Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) also had reservations. "A betrayer is a betrayer who should not be treated as a hero," Lo said. "We should consider not letting him come back."

  But Lin Wang-sung (林旺松), Justin Lin's elder brother, said it was simply a matter of allowing Lin to see his father off for the last time.

  "It's a simple family matter," he said. "Please don't make the issue so complicated. Also, the government shouldn't treat him as a traitor. He always said to us that he would work hard in China and would never embarrass the Taiwanese people. Well, he kept his promise, didn't he?"

  After defecting to China, Lin later studied in the US and became a professor of economics at Beijing University and an adviser to Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji (朱鎔基).

  Meanwhile, officials from the defense ministry told the legislature's Judicial Committee yesterday that military prosecutors plan to investigate Lin if he returns.

  "First of all, there is no `Justin Lin' in Taiwan's military records," said Rear Admiral Liu Chin-an (劉錦安), head of the defense ministry's Bureau of Military Justice. "Prosecutors will first make sure whether `Justin Lin' and `Lin Cheng-yi' are the same person."

  KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) said the government should clarify whether Lin was a missing soldier or a traitor.

  After Lin defected, the embarrassed military declared him missing and later dead. He was never officially considered a traitor.

  "We should make the problem simple," Chen said. "If the government believes that `Lin Cheng-yi' was missing and then dead, then today we'll be considering whether to approve a visa application from `Justin Lin,' a Chinese official who wishes to attend his father's funeral. If authorities think he's a traitor and should pay for what he did 23 years ago, then we should take a legal approach to the problem."
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