The Ministry of National Defense (MND) denied a local media report yesterday claiming that former Army major general Lo Hsien-che (羅賢哲) sold a scrambler used by Taiwan’s intelligence services to China while he was posted in Thailand from 2002 to 2005.
“An investigation indicated no such thing happened,” the ministry said in a statement.
The statement said that Lo, a one-star general, was indicted by the Prosecutors’ Office of the Military High Court in May on charges that included violating his duty to loyally serve the nation.
After reviewing all of the evidence, the Military High Court said nothing was found that indicated any of the military’s devices used to protect Taiwan’s secrets was -delivered to China.
Local media reports that said “Lo Hsien-che sold a scrambler to communist China,” were not factual, the statement said.
The ministry said that all equipment related to military secrets was subject to a stringent military communication security management system.
Under the system, security guards and secret units conduct regular inventory checks on all such equipment.
Asked whether the intelligence Lo allegedly sold to China made it possible for the military’s codes to be broken, ministry spokesman Lo Shao-ho (羅紹和) said the ministry was not in a position to comment on the case because it was still being tried in court.
Lo Hsien-che was arrested in January on charges of spying for China. He is believed to be the highest-ranking Taiwanese military officer to have been charged with espionage charges in nearly five decades.
On May 20, the military court asked for life imprisonment for Lo, who reportedly confessed to spying.
The Chinese-language China Times reported yesterday that investigators found that Lo reported the loss of a scrambler while posted in Thailand, leading the paper to conclude: “It is almost certain that Lo ‘sold’ the scrambler to communist China for a high price.”
Because access to the scrambler would allow the user to break Taiwan’s military codes, the newspaper said that if China possesses such a device, it would pose a grave threat to national security.
According to the media report, an intelligence source revealed that in the espionage war between Taiwan and China, Taipei’s most valuable intelligence asset was not its plans to defend the Taiwan Strait, but the scramblers used to ensure communications remain secure.
“If such a device was sold, it would have gone for an incredibly high price. The buyer would have just given a blank check,” the China Times article said, adding that the scrambler Lo allegedly sold to China was an “An Ping No. 6” developed by the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology — a military-run research institute.
That device is part of a series ranging from An Ping No. 4 to An Ping No. 8, where the higher the number the higher the level of classified data.
The article also said that An Ping-series scramblers are used on fax machines to encrypt documents.
The An Tung series is used on cellphones and the An Hsuan system on computers, it said.
One major question in the minds of ministry and national security officials is how Lo could have been promoted to the position of general rather than being disciplined after he reported having lost such an important device, it said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as