A top US expert on Asian military affairs said that espionage allegations against General Lo Hsien-che (羅賢哲) of Taiwan were “deadly serious” and potentially “very damaging.”
Richard Fisher, a senior fellow at the Washington-based International Assessment and Strategy Center, said it was of “utmost importance” that Taiwan and the US “be far better informed of the range of current and future developing threats from China.”
Other sources directly involved with US intelligence — speaking on the strict condition of anonymity — said there was “concern” in Washington over the allegations, but that the case was too sensitive to comment further at this stage.
Fisher said Lo’s arrest was only the latest espionage exposure in a mostly silent “war” extending back for almost four generations.
“General Lo’s case is deadly serious because he was in charge of what was to be Taiwan’s most important force multiplier in the event of war — the ‘Po Sheng’ or ‘Broad Victory’ digital multi-service command, control and intelligence system,” Fisher said.
“Po Sheng was intended to allow Taiwan’s armed forces to transition into the modern age of true joint warfare where different services can cooperate intimately for faster mission success,” he said.
“It is not difficult to see how the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] would view the ability to turn off or take control of Po Sheng as critical to a range of coercive military scenarios that could lead to political capitulation in Taipei before the start of full attack,” Fisher said.
“What if a future Chinese agent in the presidential palace was able to show a future Taiwan president that the PLA, through its control of Po Sheng, was ordering Taiwan’s armed forces into a massacre? The war might end before it even starts,” he said.
Fisher said Lo’s reported disclosure of Taiwanese communication networks and potentially of details regarding US and Taiwan military communications was also “very damaging” and could be much worse if Taipei and Washington “fail to draw the right lessons.”
For both the US and Taiwan, it is of utmost importance to be far better informed of the range of current and future developing threats from China, he said.
The Chinese “dictatorship wants to extinguish democracy in Taiwan far more than it wants to use Taiwan as a military base, though it wants that too,” he said.
“For Americans, a Communist Chinese takeover of Taiwan would unleash a new Cold War from a foe much more deadly and determined than the Soviet Communist Party. But if Washington can ensure the survival of a free Taiwan, the fact of its existence will undermine the legitimacy of the [Chinese] Communist Party regime and create more pressure for its reform,” Fisher said.
“While there may be some in Washington who will hold up General Lo as evidence that Taiwan is too dangerous to defend, too much of a threat to the security of American technology, that would also be a victory for China,” he said.
“The real lesson is that defending freedom is not easy, and never free. We need to be far better in the spy wars and demand the same from Taipei, but we must also increase our support for Taiwan to prove we value their freedom,” Fisher said.
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military