The Kaohsiung branch of the High Court today sentenced a former member of the coast guard to seven years and eight months in prison for leaking national and military secrets to China for almost two years, earning more than NT$580,000 (US$18,403) in criminal proceeds.
The defendant, surnamed Lee (李), was suspended after the case came to light, the Coast Guard Administration said, adding that he later resigned.
Lee had served as a member of the coast guard’s southern fleet branch since 2022, the court said in a statement.
Photo: Reuters
Lured by a Chinese national named Tony, Lee from Sept. 10, 2022, to July 2024 used his phone to record state and military secrets, documents and other confidential records, the court said.
Over a period of one year and 10 months, he sent the records to Tony via messaging apps in exchange for 18,522 Tether coins (US$18,513), it said.
Although driven by his family’s financial needs, Lee’s actions endangered national security and damaged public morale in the defense of freedom and democracy, the court said.
The court found him guilty of breaching his duties by accepting bribes and intentionally endangering national security by delivering confidential documents, electronic records and state secrets to China.
The court said it considered that Lee had confessed and turned over all of the proceeds from his crimes, as well as the content of the leaked secrets and the damage to national security, when sentencing him.
The decision is subject to appeal.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
RSS