Taiwan’s defence minister says the self-ruled territory’s government is investigating the disappearance of a soldier serving on an offshore island who has been found in China.
Speaking to reporters at parliament, Chiu Kuo-cheng says that they certainly hope to bring him back home. He did not elaborate on those channels.
The minister denied what he called rumours that the soldier had fled from abusive treatment by the military.
When asked whether there was any risk that the missing soldier could disclose classified military deployment and location information, he replied that Regardless of whether he has any such capability, which we neither confirm nor deny, he would not need to make any large-scale strategic adjustments to mitigate any information provided by this one individual.
The soldier, serving on Erdan islet, which is part of the Kinmen islands close to the Chinese coast, went missing last week and was found yesterday.
