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MND declines comment on U.S. naval officer's espionage charge

ROC Central News Agency

2016/04/11 15:12:03

Taipei, April 11 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) declined to comment Monday on a report that a Taiwanese-American naval flight officer has been accused of passing secrets to foreign countries.

"The case does not involve the Republic of China, and the ministry has no comment on related reports," the MND said.

"It is also not appropriate to comment on the national defense affairs of other countries," the ministry pointed out.

According to U.S. media, Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin, who moved to the United States with his parents when he was 14, has served on some of the U.S. Navy's most sensitive intelligence-gathering aircraft and as a signals intelligence specialist on the U.S. Navy's Lockheed Martin EP-3E Aries II reconnaissance aircraft.

The media said that Lin is currently in detention pending trial, accused of passing secrets to other countries, although the reports did not specify the countries supposedly involved.

At least one Taiwan media outlet suggested that Lin may have sold U.S. secrets to Taiwan as well as China.

The United States Naval Institute (USNI) News, which first reported on the leaks, said, however, that Lin passed the secrets to China.

The USNI is a private, non-profit, professional military association.

MND sources said that the U.S. in accordance with protocol, will ask the MND for further information if it has any doubts, but added that no such information has been forthcoming in relation to the Lin case.

(By Lu Hsin-hui and Lilian Wu)
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