The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday decided not to press charges against 15 civilians and military officers who were allowed into a restricted military base and to board an Apache helicopter, on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
The 15, including five officers in an elite special-forces unit, faced disciplinary measures after television personality Janet Lee (李蒨蓉) posted photographs on Facebook showing her and her husband sitting in the cockpit of an Apache helicopter at a military base in northern Taiwan.
The photographs caused a furor due to the perception that the aircraft is off-limits to visitors, as it has classified weapons technology. Photographs of the cockpit’s instrument panel were also posted.
Photo: Li Shao-ling, Taipei Times
According to the office, during the four-and-a-half-month-long investigation, 37 people were summoned for questioning and investigators searched 16 locations, as well as confiscated smartphones, cameras, dashboard cameras and tablet devices and laptop computers from the 15 suspects.
Surveillance footage from the 601st Air Cavalry Brigade base in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭), as well as related files, were requested and sent to the Ministry of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation for inspection.
The investigation revealed no violation of the National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), the Punishment Act of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍懲罰法) and Vital Area Regulations (要塞堡壘地帶法) by Lieutenant Colonel Lao Nai-cheng (勞乃成), who conducted the tour for Lee and her entourage, or any of the other defendants.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
According to the office, Lao had not given false information to the duty officer when he led Lee and her entourage into the base as the duty officer did not ask for identification after seeing that Lao outranked him.
Lao, 40, is a pilot-instructor for the aircraft and head information security officer at the base. He was sent to the US for 18 months of training on Apache helicopters and was seen as a rising star in the airborne unit prior to the incident.
Claims that Lao took the Apache helmets, with heads-up-displays, off base to parties were refuted as other flight trainers confirmed that officers often take their helmets when they moved bases or were out on missions.
Flight trainers called in by the office for questioning said that the helmet was just an ordinary military helmet when not electronically connected to devices inside the helicopter cockpit, adding that it was not considered a military weapon.
Queries sent to the US by the Ministry of National Defense received response stating that the layout of the Apache helicopter and its instrument panel are not considered classified, and provided photographs of the Apache instrument panel found on the Internet that were clearer than Lee’s photographs.
Separately, the office also said that the case against former commander of the 601st Air Cavalry Brigade Major General Chien Tsung-yuan (簡聰淵) bringing family into a military base without permission was closed without charges after inconclusive investigations.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS