TAIPEI: A Taiwanese military intelligence officer who fled to Britain and unsuccessfully sought asylum was given a ten-month suspended jail sentence for desertion yesterday. Yeh Mei, formerly a lieutenant with the Military Intelligence Agency, was ordered to do 200 hours of community service and pay a $6,700 fine as well as receiving the suspended sentence with four years’ reprieve. The 33-year-old had faced up to five years in jail for desertion. But the Taichung district court in central Taiwan said she received a more lenient punishment because she “did not leak any military secrets and she has confessed to her crime and shown remorse.” Yeh admitted she went on a sightseeing trip to Thailand with the intention of deserting her duties because she could not adjust to a military career, and fled to Britain via Bangkok in June 2012, officials said. Taiwan put her on its wanted list after she ran away, and sacked her as an intelligence officer.
Manila protests Beijing blockade
MANILA: Manila protested yesterday against Beijing’s blockade of civilian supply ships in disputed waters of the South China Sea, saying China’s latest actions “constitute a clear and urgent threat to the rights and interests of the Philippines.” China’s coast guard ships had driven away two Philippine vessels which had tried to approach a shoal in the South China Sea on Sunday, sparking the latest flare-up in a long-running territorial dispute. The Department of Foreign Affairs summoned China’s charge d’ affaires Sun Xiangyang to hand over a strongly worded protest over the incident in the waters around the Second Thomas Shoal, which the Philippines refers to as the Ayungin Shoal. In a statement, the foreign ministry “urged China to desist from any further interference with the efforts of the Philippines to undertake rotation and resupply operations at the Ayungin Shoal.”
Agencies
