Taiwan Denies Role in Spy Case Involving U.S. Navy Officer

International New York Times

12 April 2016

Taiwan’s military denied any involvement on Tuesday in the case of a United States naval officer under investigation on suspicion of providing secret information to Taiwan or China.

The Navy is weighing charges of espionage against the officer, a naturalized American citizen born in Taiwan. Investigators believe that the officer, Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin, 39, may have given secret information to a Chinese girlfriend. He is also accused of visiting a prostitute, infidelity, not disclosing foreign travel and lying to investigators.

Maj. Gen. David Lo, a spokesman for Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense, said that American investigators had not contacted Taiwan and that he was unfamiliar with the details of the case. But in a news conference on Tuesday, he denied that Taiwan would have pursued such spying.

… Under the Taiwan Relations Act, such armaments must be defensive in nature. That means Taiwan is limited in what it can receive from the United States, which could be a motive for espionage, said Wu Shang-su, a research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

“Previously, they have had difficulty accessing technology because the U.S. government has not wanted to provide everything Taiwan requests,” Mr. Wu said.

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Last updated on 14/04/2016