Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) is facing calls to explain allegations that she passed classified material about Taiwan’s Indigenous Defense Submarine program to a foreign state, any link to the arrest of six South Korean engineers who worked on the project and her reasons to attempt to block the program’s budget.
Ma allegedly compiled more than 3,000 files relating to design and construction plans, which she passed on to the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau and the South Korean Mission in Taipei.
Political commentator and former KMT member Lee Zheng-hao (李正皓) yesterday said that the accusations were based on information from former naval commander Huang Cheng-hui (黃征輝).
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The files contained classified information that ended up in the hands of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, Lee said.
The materials also included voice recordings between retired navy captain Kuo Hsi (郭璽), a consultant for the submarine program, and two foreign contractors, shown in the files as “SI” and “GL,” which Lee said refer to SI Innotec, a South Korean marine engineering firm, and Gavron Ltd, a firm registered in Gibraltar reportedly headed by retired British naval officers.
Beijing has for many years warned other countries against taking part in Taiwanese naval upgrades, so foreign contractors had to conceal their involvement, and register new companies outside their home countries to provide technical support and transfer new technology to help state-backed shipbuilder CSBC Corp Taiwan to complete the first domestic-built submarine, Lee said.
The six engineers were arrested because South Korean intelligence obtained the information, Lee said.
Authorities detained them when they returned home last year amid an investigation into leaking of trade secrets while working for SI Innotec, he said.
The engineers, who were helping Taiwan’s cause, are barred from leaving South Korea, he said, adding that the evidence is clear that Ma has contravened national security regulations by passing high-level classified files to a foreign state.
She must face charges of contravening Article 109 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence, he said.
“I urge Ma to halt her re-election campaign so that she can concentrate on facing a judicial investigation,” he added.
Meanwhile, Justin Wu (吳崢), a former New Power Party member who is running for a legislative seat in New Taipei City for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), accused Ma of abusing her position as a member of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee by taking every opportunity to interfere with the submarine program.
Wu presented documents from when he worked as a legislative aide, showing that when the committee deliberated on the submarine’s design, Ma sought to cut NT$1.42 billion (US$44.02 million) from the program’s budget, proposing a NT$610 million cut in 2019 and NT$810 million in 2020.
“Ma sought to interfere with the submarine program from start to finish, and wanted to cut most of its budget,” Wu said. “She does not want Taiwan to have its own indigenous submarines.”
Ma was one of a number of KMT and pan-blue camp legislators who fought vigorously against the program, he said.
Kuo has in media interviews accused Ma of “betraying our nation” and that she had labeled the submarines “undersea coffins.”
He has said that he accompanied Ma on visits to China, where she was treated as a special guest and had meetings with officials from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.
Ma yesterday said that Kuo and others were trying to shift blame.
“Most people do not understand the program details,” she said. “Most of the revealed information came from Kuo and DPP politicians, as many of them also participated in closed-door legislative deliberations about the program.”
‘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
RSS