Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷) yesterday accused Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) of leaking military secrets and called on President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and the party to treat the matter seriously.
The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology on Thursday conducted missile tests at the Jioupeng Military Base (九鵬基地) in Pingtung County, and while it declined to comment on which missiles were tested, Wang wrote on Facebook on Friday that a model of the Tien Kung-III surface-to-air missile with increased range was tested.
The reason the Ministry of National Defense discloses little detail on military strategy, research and development, arms purchases and military exercises is due to it being basic military intelligence, said Wu, who is a retired lieutenant general.
One wants the enemy to guess which things you say are true and which are deception, Wu said.
However, Wang has repeatedly disclosed military secrets, Wu said.
In 2018, Wang wrote on Facebook about the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Relations and National Defense Committee visiting Eastern Europe on a “classified” mission and in April disclosed that the navy’s “Friendship Flotilla” had “19 days of extra travel time on a classified mission after leaving Palau,” Wu said.
“Whether he is trying to show off that he has sources, or he is telling China that we are ready for them, unveiling the military’s counter strategies is an incredibly stupid act,” Wu said, adding that his own previous request for ministry information had been considered a possible leak.
Contrasting Wang’s actions with his own, Wu said that whether something is considered “information leaking” was based on party affiliation.
The military is the military of the Republic of China and should be considered neither the household guard for President Tsai, nor the DPP’s army, he added.
Wang later yesterday said that he would see Wu in court for his false accusations, adding that Wu should “do his homework” and apologize.
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is