Taipei: Confidential data concerning applications of an air-launched variant of the Hsiung Feng III missiles was not compromised in an alleged Chinese espionage case involving a retired Air Force major, Defense Minister Wellington Koo said Thursday.

According to Focus Taiwan, local media reported Wednesday that retired Air Force Major and alleged Chinese spy Shih Chun-cheng persuaded then Air Intercept Controller Hsu Chan-cheng to leak secret files on the deployment of the anti-ship missiles and Air Force movements in response to Chinese incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone in exchange for payment.

The reports indicated that Shih approached Hsu in 2021, suggesting classified files were leaked over four years until prosecutors raided Shih’s residence in August 2024.

At a legislative hearing on Thursday, Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Chen Kuan-ting and Kuomintang lawmaker Ma Wen-chun asked Koo to comment on the reports. Koo stated the leaked data was “academic” in nature and was part of research conducted before the development began. It was therefore “not combat-related,” he added.

Cheng Yi-cheng, deputy head of Taiwan’s state-run weapons developer National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, mentioned that the timing of the leak indicated that it had “no connection” with the development of the missiles, as the institute is still performing various tests and has not yet determined a set of fixed parameters.