Man indicted for allegedly leaking national secrets

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- A retired top Taiwanese military intelligence officer has been indicted on charges of collecting and leaking classified information that was published in his book, officials said yesterday.

Pang Ta-wei, a former deputy section chief of the Military Intelligence Bureau, was indicted on September 17, said Chen Jui, spokesman for the Prosecutors’ Office of the High Court.

“He was indicted on charges of jeopardizing national security by collecting and leaking national defense secrets,” Chen said.

“His offense is clear. He did not destroy the classified information as he was required to do. Rather, he printed it in his book,” he said, adding that Pang was barred from leaving Taiwan.

Taiwan’s Bureau of Investigation started to probe the case after Pang revealed what the Military Intelligence Bureau said were national secrets in a book in 2004, the Liberty Times newspaper said.

Among the alleged secrets are documents relating to his unit’s spying operation on rival China from 1992 through 1997, the newspaper said.

Pang claimed he did not intend to reveal national secrets, which prosecutors rejected. If convicted, he faces a 12-year jail term.

The Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report.

Taiwan and China, which split in 1949 at the end of a civil war, are still technically at war and continue to spy on each other.

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