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Chinese man arrested on suspicion of gathering intelligence

ROC Central News Agency

2009/05/26 16:49:02

By Flor Wang

Taipei, May 26 (CNA) A Chinese tourist was arrested Monday for allegedly trying to gather military information at a restricted area of a military compound in Taipei City, a Ministry of National Defense (MND) spokesman said Tuesday.

The man, identified as Ma Zhongfei, was handed over Tuesday to the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office for further investigation on suspicion of "illegally intruding into a military area -- a violation which carries a punishment of up to one-year's imprisonment, " Major General Yu Sy-tue said.

Ma was caught taking photos of military equipment installed at a computer warfare command center that is part of a military recruitment complex on Keelung Road in downtown Taipei.

The recruitment center is open to the general public, but the computer warfare command area is a restricted facility.

"Military officers immediately detained Ma after discovering that he had sneaked into a restricted military facility," Yu said.

Yu denied the allegation that the MND was to be blamed for poor security on the military compound. However, he said that in an effort to prevent the occurrence of a similar incident in the future, the MND will step up education and training of its personnel, as more and more Chinese are visiting Taiwan for sightseeing and other purposes.

An initial investigation found that Ma, the chairman of a Chinese technology company, entered Taiwan a few days ago as part of a tourist group from China.

As part of the investigation, Ma was escorted Tuesday morning by prosecutor Tseng Chun-tseh to retrace his movements in Taipei so far.

Ma claimed that he entered the MND recruitment center as he was on Keelung Road on his way to Xindian in Taipei County, where he planned to pay his respects to a deceased friend, Tseng said.

Ma's case was the first of its kind since Taiwan opened up to larger numbers of Chinese visitors late last year.