President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) nephew, who reportedly helped secure the release of a Taiwanese hostage in the Philippines, will not comment any time soon on his role in the woman’s return to Taiwan, his publisher said yesterday.
Gene Yu (余靖) caught the media’s attention at a news conference in Taipei on Saturday, when Chang An-wei’s (張安薇) brother Chang Ta- kung (張大公) thanked him publicly for his assistance in negotiating with the Abu Sayyaf militant group that kidnapped his sister on Nov. 15. Yu kept a low profile at Saturday’s news conference, saying only that he was very happy that Chang An-wei had returned safely.
Business Weekly Publications Inc, which recently released a Chinese edition of Yu’s book about his service in the US military, said he does not wish to give any interviews.
Photo provided by Business Weekly Publications
“No comments will be made for the time being,” the publisher said, adding that Yu plans to take a break and stay in Taiwan for a while.
Yu, a former commanding officer in the US Army Special Forces, better known as the Green Berets, was in Taipei to promote the Chinese version of his book, Yellow Green Beret, when Chang An-wei was abducted by armed gunmen from a villa on the island of Pom Pom off the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah on Nov. 15 and her companion, Hsu Li-min (許立民), was killed.
After learning that Chang An-wei had been taken to a southern Philippine island, Yu took the initiative to contact Chang’s family and offered to help with her rescue, Chang Ta-kung said.
“Yu used his personal connections to help secure the release of my sister,” Chang Ta-kung said in an interview with the Central News Agency on Friday.
Yu, 34, was born and grew up in the US. He entered the US Military Academy at West Point at the age of 17.
He graduated shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He was first assigned to the US Army Armored Brigade and served in South Korea. After two years of tough tests, he became a commanding officer in the US Army Special Forces.
In a recent interview with a local TV program, Yu said he was posted to an Okinawa military base after becoming a Green Beret officer.
During his 40 months of service there, he took part in combat missions four times, including one in 2006 that included an attack on an Abu Sayyaf base, a group of Islamic militants, on a remote Philippine island. Chang An-wei was under the group’s control when she was held in the Philippine province of Sulu.
Yu said that he had carried out many antiterrorist combat missions in Iraq and the Philippines during his 12-year service in the US military, during which he won two Bronze Stars.
After his retirement from military service, Yu came to Taiwan to study Chinese. During the period, he began to write about his experiences in the US military and posted them on his blog, where they gained a lot of attention.
In 2011, Yu published his work in three volumes under the pen-name Chester Wong.
The Chinese edition of the first volume was launched in Taipei earlier this month.
The Presidential Office would not make any comment on Yu’s role in the rescue of Chang An-wei.
Presidential Office deputy spokeswoman Ma Wei-kuo (馬瑋國) said that the president was grateful for Chang An-wei’s safe return.
“President Ma was concerned about Chang An-wei’s safety and had directed relevant government agencies to deal with the case and ensure her safety,” she added.
‘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
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS