No secrets leaked at radar system commissioning ceremony: MND

ROC Central News Agency

2013/04/08 19:13:23

Taipei, April 8 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Monday that no sensitive information was leaked at a commissioning ceremony for a new advanced early warning radar system that took place in February this year.

MND spokesman Luo Shou-he said that the people who attended the commissioning ceremony all formerly served in the Air Force and took part in the planning and installation of the U.S.-made advanced surveillance radar system.

Luo was responding to a report in the Liberty Times newspaper that said former National Defense University President Hsia Ying-chou was invited to the ceremony in Hsinchu County and was given a secret briefing on the base, which drew the ire of some Air Force personnel who see Hsia as a turncoat.

Hsia has traveled across the Taiwan Strait since his retirement and on one occasion in China, made the controversial suggestion that the ROC Army and the People's Liberation Army be called 'China's army.'

The report also said that the United States, concerned that information on the radar system -- which can detect and track not only guided ballistic missiles and cruise missiles but also all types of warplanes -- has asked Taiwan's Air Force to install encryption software on the relevant computer systems.

Luo said Taiwanese nationals or retired generals who travel to China should not be randomly questioned unless there is evidence they have leaked sensitive information or done something to undermine national interests.

He also said the ministry has received no reports about angry reactions by Air Force personnel.

He further added that Taiwan's military relations with the United States are solid.

The Air Force Command said that during the Feb. 1 event, it only arranged an inauguration ceremony, an award ceremony, a retrospection and a tea party. No classified information was divulged.

It also said that the data related to the radar system is already encrypted.

The new mountaintop radar system can detect flying objects in a range of up to 5,000 km, giving Taiwan comprehensive surveillance of aerial activities in airspace from the Korean peninsula in the north to the South China Sea in the south.

(By Rogge Chen and Lilian Wu)
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