The Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei yesterday said that its government did not have any knowledge regarding reported attempts to poach a Taiwanese lieutenant colonel implicated in the Apache helicopter case.
“The government of Israel has no information on the report which appeared in the Taiwanese media on August 22,” Israeli Representative to Taipei Asher Yarden said in a news release.
Chinese-language media reports on Saturday that claimed Israel had tried to recruit army Lieutenant Colonel Lao Nai-cheng (勞乃成) of the 601st Air Cavalry Brigade with a monthly salary of NT$600,000, because it is planning to expand its fleet of Apache helicopters with acquisition of the newer AH-64E model.
Lao is an Apache pilot and instructor.
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday said it would not press charges against Lao and 14 other defendants, including several civilians, over civilians gaining access to an off-limits military base in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭) and one of the newly acquired Apache helicopters based there.
Lao had been under investigation since he took a group of civilians on a tour of the base in March, as well as taking one of the special Apache helmets off base to wear at a party.
The prosecutors said the Taoyuan base had not been categorized as a “vital area” and that the aircraft, helmet and hangar depicted in the photographs taken by one of the suspects, television personality Janet Lee (李蒨蓉), were also not considered classified military information.
The army late on Saturday dismissed the media reports about Israel and Lao as unsubstantiated rumors.
An officer who spoke on condition of anonymity yesterday said that Lao was not upset by the months-long investigation and wanted to stay in Taiwan.
“If the Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission does not remove Lao from his job, the military will then evaluate whether to let him stay in accordance with its own procedures,” the officer said.
Lao was impeached by the Control Yuan and placed on the army’s discharge list after being given two serious demerits.
He is awaiting disciplinary action from the commission.
As to whether Lao would be allowed to resume flying, the officer said Lao must file an application and then an evaluation committee would make a decision based on criteria such as his physical capability and his recent performance.
Additional reporting by CNA
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
THE TOUR: Pope Francis has gone on a 12-day visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He was also invited to Taiwan The government yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the Asia-Pacific region and said it would continue extending an invitation for him to visit Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the remarks as Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Monday. He is to travel about 33,000km by air to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, and would arrive back in Rome on Friday next week. It would be the longest and most challenging trip of Francis’ 11-year papacy. The 87-year-old has had health issues over the past few years and now uses a wheelchair. The ministry said
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
RSS