Fifteen cases of alleged Chinese espionage activities have been uncovered over the past year, of which 90 percent involved either active military personnel or retired military officers, according to a report presented to the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee by the National Security Bureau on Monday.
Commenting on the report, Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) said on Monday evening that the military is continuing to heighten counterintelligence measures for its forces, bolster personnel vigilance on protecting national security against hostile activities and guard against Chinese espionage penetration.
One recent case involved retired marine corps colonel Liao Yi-tsung (廖益聰), who was allegedly recruited by China during a visit to Shanghai in 2010, when he was offered 20,000 yuan (US$3,260) a month to spy on Taiwan’s military.
Liao allegedly enticed colleagues with money and recruited Hu Kuang-tai (胡廣泰), a retired marine corps officer who taught at the Marine Corps School in Greater Kaohsiung.
Liao allegedly used Hu’s contacts to recruit young officers in the marine corps to collect classified military information.
Liao and Hu, along with three other officers, are currently under investigation on espionage charges.
“The activities in this case involved not only military personnel carrying out spying for China, it also involved the organizing and operating of a Chinese spy ring in Taiwan’s military. This is quite an unusual development,” said an official, who declined to be named and who had access to the report.
Since last year, alleged espionage cases reported by the media included suspected spying by an air force major in Pingtung County air base in October last year and a former Central News Agency reporter named Kuo Mei-lan (郭玫蘭) who allegedly violated the National Security Act (國家安全法).
However, the bureau’s report suggests that 15 alleged espionage cases had been uncovered.
Citing the likelihood of cases that have not yet been uncovered, the unnamed official said that the number of actual espionage cases may be well beyond what people imagine.
Asked for comment on the report, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) attributed the high number of Chinese espionage cases to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “one China” policy, which he said has weakened national defense.
“Our military officers do not know what they are fighting for,” Tsai said.
DPP Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) said these cases are definitive proof of China’s continuing military threat, which has not diminished one bit, despite Ma’s cross-strait policy.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said Chinese spying was ill-advised.
“Although we have more cross-strait interactions and China has presented Taiwan more benefits, every time an espionage case is uncovered, Taiwanese immediately think that China has not given up on taking over Taiwan by force,” he said. “This is detrimental to normalizing cross-strait relations.”
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and