Allegations of spying against National Police University associate professor Wu Chang-yu (吳彰裕) are only the tip of the iceberg, members of the Falun Gong movement said on Saturday.
Wu, who teaches Chinese political history, was arraigned for questioning on Thursday on charges of allegedly spying for China and passing information to Chinese officials about Chinese dissidents, pro-Tibetan activists and the Falun Gong movement in Taiwan.
Wu told prosecutors the information he offered was not confidential and was readily available from multiple sources.
According to National Taiwan University economics professor Chang Ching-hsi (張清溪), who also serves as the chairman of the Taiwanese Falun Dafa Association, the personal information of individuals who openly criticize China for its oppression of Falun Gong practitioners is easily accessible and computer hacking attacks on Web sites related to Falun Gong are common.
The Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) in Shanghai recently detained a Falun Gong member who was not an activist, Chang said, adding that the security officials knew detailed information about the member and recited them to the detained man to intimidate him.
China is using its power to gather information and Taiwanese should be on guard, Chang said.
Ko Yi-chun (柯宜君), another Falun Gong practitioner, said she was present in 2007 when Hong Kong police detained 500 Falun Gong members at the airport who had gone to the territory on the 10th anniversary of its hand over to Chinese control.
All those arrested were returned to Taiwan.
The incident became ever more controversial after Falun Gong members filed an appeal with the Hong Kong Supreme Court, but their appeal was overturned, which some analysts said was a warning sign that the independence of the territory’s judicial system was regressing.
Ko said that after an immigration officer had scanned her passport information into the computer, a police officer came over and took her into a questioning room without giving a reason, adding that after about 10 hours of detention, they wrapped her up in a blanket and forcibly sent her back to Taiwan.
Falun Gong is very liberal and there is no ceremony conducted upon joining nor is there a list of practitioners, Ko said, adding that members are free to come and go as they please.
There are rumors that the Chinese Communist Party has drawn up a blacklist using personal information gathered through “special” channels, which enabled Hong Kong police to accurately pinpoint Taiwanese who have associations with Falun Gong, Ko said.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff writer
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
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS