China has arrested nearly a dozen military officers -- including at least four generals -- on charges of spying for Taiwan, a newspaper reported yesterday.
The officers are accused of selling secrets on China's deployment of fighter aircraft and air defenses, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported. It said they were arrested in February and last month.
Most of the those arrested reportedly worked in the Air Force Command Academy, the highest training institute for the air force of the PLA, the Post said.
They were believed to have supplied information on deployment of China's advanced, Russian-designed Su-27 fighter planes, the report said. It said one suspect was the leading officer at the academy and was accused of getting at least US$120,000 from Taiwan.
The Hong Kong newspaper Sing Pao identified two of those arrested as Major General Liu Guang-zhi (
The identities of the others weren't reported.
The Ministry of National Defense in Taipei had no immediate comment on the reports.
"We are still collecting information to understand the case," a ministry spokesman said.
An officer with the ministry's Military Intelligence Bureau said the bureau was perusing the reports and has not yet worked out why the reports claim that senior People's Liberation Army (PLA) officers supposedly detained by Beijing were spying for Taiwan.
Meanwhile, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (
Noting that intelligence work is basically strategic warfare, Chen said that media reports on the issue are usually not factual.
"We'll keep a close watch on whether the report has any political implications," Chen said, adding that intelligence warfare often involves using various ploys and misinformation to divide or sow seeds of discord in the enemy camp.
China in February announced the arrests of several Taiwanese businessmen in two southern provinces, saying they had spied on Chinese military targets for Taiwan.
A retired PLA major general and a senior colonel were reportedly executed in 1999 for selling military secrets to Taiwan.
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