Taiwan arrests ‘spying’ officers

TAIPEI - Agence France-Presse

Taiwan said yesterday that three retired military officers have been arrested on suspicion of leaking military secrets to China, in one of the island’s worst espionage cases.

Chang Chih-hsin, formerly the chief officer in charge of political warfare at the naval METOC (meteorology and oceanography) office, has been arrested, the defense ministry said in a statement. “Chang, who initiated contacts with Chinese mainland officials while still serving in the navy, was suspected of luring his former colleagues and making illegal gains,” it said.

Defense ministry spokesman David Lo confirmed two other former military officers have also been arrested in the case. Lo did not say what kind of military information Chang allegedly sold to China but played down the possible damage to Taiwan’s security, saying “Chang had had limited access to sensitive information of the naval METOC”.

But the Taipei-based broadsheet Apple Daily said a total of eight former military officers had been arrested in the case. It quoted a retired naval general as saying the naval METOC kept highly classified information such as mapping and charting publications of the meteorological and oceanographic battle environment. The information has been used by the island’s submarines and other warships, the paper said.