cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/70007

Franz Gayl, a 64-year-old retired US Marine major who is now working at the Pentagon, is under a counterintelligence investigation by the Marine Corps for his two articles published in the Global Times that criticized the US policy toward the Taiwan Straits.

In his first article, published on April 27, he argued that the US would lose a war with China over the island of Taiwan. He also suggested that the US advise Taiwan’s secessionists to peaceably accept “one country, two systems” and cease its “independence” ambitions. The article was later translated and published in the Chinese version of the Global Times.

Gayl further delivered his stance in another article a month later, in which he made it clear that “Attempting to support the renegade island of Taiwan’s secession is directly contrary to the US national interest as we know in advance we will lose.”

He wrote this “as an American” whose priority is US national interest, he said in the article. And at the end of each article, he put a note saying that, “Opinions are of the author and do not represent the US government,”

But the Marine Corps and the Pentagon he works for view him as an unacceptable “whistle-blower.” They have not only launched an investigation against Gayl, but also suspended his security clearances while seeking to determine whether he has been compromised. He faces an early exit from the civil service, according to a Washington Post article published on Friday (June 11).

According to the Washington Post, on June 1, Gayl was summoned to the security office and stripped of his clearance. He was given a letter that said he was the subject of an investigation and hinted that the issue was his articles in the Global Times.

On June 7, he informed the Global Times editor via email that he is resigning and retiring from his government job, “once the process is complete, I can perhaps write again,” he said.

“I do not know why my opinions were not accepted. My sense of urgency is caused by the increasing tensions reported in US news media. I am always concerned for my fellow Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen, and my country,” Gayl told the Global Times on Saturday, after the investigation was disclosed by the Washington Post.

Gayl has many regrets. One of them is that he can no longer write for the Global Times, and another is an imminent war in the Taiwan Straits that he thinks will be a tragedy. To prevent such a war was his motivation for publishing articles in GT.

“As I get old now and towards retirement, I want to do all I can to make the small contribution of helping prevent a terrible war,” he said in a previous email to GT.

“People have criticized me and have asked me why I side with PRC on the issue of Taiwan. I simply tell them that the PRC is absolutely right on Taiwan, and always has been. History is my guide,” he wrote.