Four separate cases have been opened over alleged leaks of national security secrets involving Taiwan’s submarine program, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.
Admiral Huang Shu-kuang (黃曙光), who heads the Indigenous Defense Submarine program, on Thursday last week said that “certain legislators” were making it difficult for the program to purchase critical equipment.
Retired navy captain Kuo Hsi (郭璽) on the same day said that Huang was referring to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君).
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Ma allegedly leaked files from the submarine program to the Chinese Communist Party and the South Korean Mission in Taipei, Kuo added.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said that the High Prosecutors’ Office would lead treason investigations.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office would determine whether claims that Chinese spies or organizations affiliated with China were involved would constitute a breach of the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法), the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said.
The Taipei office would also launch a separate investigation into disputes between contractors that submitted bids for the program, it said.
Ma has said that she was given blueprints and other files, whose authenticity was difficult to ascertain, in January last year, as well as recordings that Kuo said were of him.
Ma said she forwarded the material to the Ministry of National Defense, but it had told her the content was a result of “bad blood” between competing contractors and the information was not sensitive.
Ma said she had later asked the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau to open a probe into the matter.
She reached out to the South Korean office via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and forwarded the recordings to it as well, she said.
The Investigation Bureau confirmed that it had received the request from Ma, a source said on condition of anonymity.
The bureau forwarded the matter to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office, the source said.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office yesterday instructed the Kaohsiung office to continue its investigation.
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said at the Legislative Yuan that he respected ongoing investigations.
Ma asked Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) why a “controversial individual” like Kuo was hired as a consultant for the submarine program.
Kuo had prior knowledge of such matters, Chiu said, adding that the navy had suspended his consultancy after a year because “he crossed some lines.”
Ma later told reporters that she was innocent of any alleged wrongdoing and that the judicial proceedings would determine the truth.
Former minister of national defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) called on Ma to resign and cancel her re-election campaign to demonstrate her resolve to work with the investigation.
Taiwan Statebuilding Party Chairman Wang Hsing-huan (王興煥) said that Chiu’s “appeasement” of Ma and calling her “hard-working” was incredible.
Additional reporting by Wu Su-wei
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS