The navy is investigating a captain who allegedly collected data from the Han Kuang exercises and told staff to bypass budget audits, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday.
Koo made the remarks at an open meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
Legislators Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) and Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) expressed concern over reports that the captain, surnamed Lin (林), who directs the navy’s Meteorological and Oceanographic Office, had illegally collected operational data from the Han Kuang exercises in July.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA
Lin allegedly instructed his subordinates to establish a battle situation center and request classified information from frontline squadrons. He also allegedly told personnel to circumvent audit oversight on budget allocations, telling them to deceive auditors if possible.
The Navy Command said that a preliminary investigation showed that Lin might have contravened the Cyber Security Management Act (資通安全管理法), but he did not leak information related to the Han Kuang exercises.
The investigation showed that Lin created an online chat group on Oct. 24, 2023, to facilitate discussions over marine weather information, it said.
The chat group was deleted on April 3 last year for security reasons, it added.
“Comparing the time that the chat group was created and the time when the exercises were held, the content discussed in the chat group was not about the details of the exercises. However, we would look further into the part that might have contravene cybersecurity regulations,” the Navy Command said.
Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Chiu Chun-jung (邱俊榮) said that information relevant to the case still needs to be clarified, such as reports that cite budget allocation timelines that differ from the facts.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS