AFP/Taipei
A Taiwanese admiral has been questioned over his alleged involvement in one of the island’s worst espionage cases, officials said yesterday, as concerns mount over Chinese infiltration of the military.
Defence ministry spokesman David Lo announced the admiral has come under investigation, but declined to provide details.
The Taipei-based Apple Daily said the admiral, whom it identified as Hsu Chung-hua, has been transferred from his position as the commander of fleet based in Penghu, an island group in the middle of the Taiwan Strait.
According to reports, the investigation is linked to the September arrest of three senior military officers suspected of leaking secrets to China, considered to be one of the most serious breaches in the island’s history. One of the officers arrested in the raid was Chang Chih-hsin, formerly a commander in charge of political warfare at the navy’s METOC (meteorology and oceanography) office which keeps highly classified maps and charts.
Military experts say that China could learn more about the operation of Taiwan’s submarines if it obtained such information.