Two retired air force officers, including a former major general, were yesterday morning released on bail after overnight questioning by prosecutors about their alleged involvement in a Chinese espionage ring.
Retired air force major general Chien Yao-tung (錢耀棟) and retired lieutenant colonel Wei Hsien-yi (魏先儀) were released on bail of NT$200,000 and NT$300,000 respectively after being formally named as suspects in the investigation.
The Chinese-language Mirror Media last month reported that prosecutors were investigating allegations that a Hong Kong businessman, surnamed Tse (謝), had tried to organize a spy ring in Taiwan under instructions from the Chinese Ministry of State Security.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Tse is suspected to have cultivated relationships with multiple retired military officers, including Chien and Wei, and arranged dinners and banquets at which they were encouraged to invite other active duty service members, the report said.
The report added that former deputy minister of national defense Chang Che-ping (張哲平) was being investigated for attending several dinners with members of the ring, as well as for allegations that his wife had traveled to Hong Kong at their expense.
Chang, the head of National Defense University, said his wife had paid for the trip herself.
He had followed military ethics guidelines at all social events and in interactions with classmates, retired colleagues and friends, he said, adding that he “absolutely committed no illegalities in speech or action.”
Chang has not been publicly named as a suspect in the case. He served as deputy minister of national defense from 2019 until the end of June, when he was transferred to his current post at the university.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday ordered a national security team at the Investigation Bureau to search the homes of Chien and Wei, and to summon the pair for questioning as defendants in the case.
Following overnight interrogations, the prosecutors’ office issued bail terms for the two men based on their suspected contraventions of the National Security Act (國家安全法).
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
NEW LOW: The council in 2024 based predictions on a pessimistic estimate for the nation’s total fertility rate of 0.84, but last year that rate was 0.69, 17 percent lower An expected National Development Council (NDC) report expects the nation’s population to drop below 12 million by 2065, with the old-age dependency ratio to top 100 percent sooner than 2070, sources said yesterday. The council is slated to release its latest population projections in August, using an ultra-low fertility model, the sources said. The previous report projected that Taiwan’s population would fall to 14.37 million by 2070, but based on a new estimate of the total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime — the population is expected to reach 12 million by
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
RSS