A senior Taiwanese military officer was taken into custody on Monday on charges of leaking confidential intelligence to China, in a case described as the highest level of espionage in the past 20 years and which has put Taiwanese spies operating in China in grave danger.
The officer, who worked for the Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB), was identified as Colonel Lo Chi-cheng (羅奇正). Lo, who reports said was in charge at the bureau of building Taiwan’s spy network in China, is suspected of forwarding classified information and data to unauthorized personnel in violation of national laws.
The Military High Court agreed to a request to keep Lo detained pending further investigation by military judicial authorities on the grounds that Lo could impair national security or collude with witnesses to give false testimony if freed, a press release said.
Newspaper reports said military prosecutors believed Lo collaborated with a China-based Taiwanese businessman, identified as Lo Pin (羅斌), to collect military intelligence for China. Lo Pin has also been detained, pending the progress of the investigation, reports said.
According to the Chinese--language Apple Daily, some of the classified information passed on to China included lists of spies stationed in China.
The information is believed to have compromised crucial Taiwanese intelligence networks in China and the agents were now “running for their lives,” an unnamed military source told the paper.
However, ministry spokesman Major General Yu Sy-tue (虞思祖) told a press conference yesterday that the damage caused to the Taiwanese military was relatively low.
Prosecutors said Lo Pin was recruited by the MIB in 2004 to serve as a source in China, where he went under the cover of a Taiwanese businessman.
However, Lo Pin’s cover was blown, which led to his arrest in Fujian Province by the end of 2004.
Lo Pin told prosecutors he was tortured by Chinese security -officials for 15 days before confessing that Lo Chi-cheng was his handler in Taiwanese intelligence.
Prosecutors said Lo Pin returned to Taiwan to persuade Lo Chi-cheng to collect classified information for China and beginning in 2007, Lo Chi-cheng started to forward classified information to Lo Pin, which he then allegedly handed over to Chinese intelligence in Hong Kong.
Lo Chi-cheng received a payment of between US$4,000 and US$6,000 each time he passed information, while Lo Pin received a payment between US$2,000 and US$3,000, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they suspected Lo Chi-cheng leaked classified information to China on at least 12 occasions. Over that period, Lo Chi-cheng is believed to have amassed as much as US$100,000 in payments from Chinese intelligence.
The Chinese-language United Daily News said the MIB had been monitoring Lo Chi-cheng’s actions for “quite some time” and laid the groundwork to collect evidence and witnesses.
Acting on a tipoff that Lo Chi-cheng was about to pass military intelligence to Lo Pin late last month, military prosecutors cooperated with the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office and the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) to pursue the case, the United Daily News said.
Investigators who searched the residences of the two men found bank passbooks and other data related to the case. MJIB agents have also questioned holders of proxy accounts linked to the case who admitted being asked by Lo Chi-cheng to open them for his intelligence purposes, the paper said.
On Saturday, investigators -followed the two suspects to a post office in Banciao (板橋), where Lo Chi-cheng gave Lo Pin a flash drive believed to contain classified military information.
Commenting on the matter in the legislature yesterday, DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) questioned whether cross-strait espionage had yet to decrease despite warming economic relations with China.
“If the government is so optimistic about cross-strait relations, then why are the espionage battles between the two sides still so heated?” he asked.
He also expressed concern that Taiwan’s spy network in China could have been compromised and said that the government should consider negotiating the protection of Taiwanese spies in China and their safe return to Taiwan.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO, CNA AND STAFF WRITER
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS