Ten former and current military officers were yesterday indicted on charges of spying for China, including two who allegedly filmed themselves pledging loyalty to Beijing.
The High Prosecutors’ Office requested life imprisonment for the suspects in light of the severity of the crime.
The 10 active-duty and retired officers included members of the 601st Brigade of the Aviation Special Forces comprising attack helicopter squadrons and elite combat units in charge of defending northern Taiwan, including Taipei.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The other suspects came from Huadong Defense Command, in charge of defending the eastern coast; Kinmen Defense Command, in charge of defending Kinmen and Matsu; and one from the army’s Chemicals, Biohazards and Radiation Training Center based in Taoyuan tasked with defense against chemical and biological warfare.
Prosecutors charged them with treason in accordance with a provision in the Criminal Code, which was amended in May, which states that “any person colluding with a foreign state or its agent” with the intent to start a war against the nation may be sentenced to death or life imprisonment.
Evidence showed that two active-duty officers, surnamed Wu (吳) and Lu (陸), were paid to film videos declaring their willingness to surrender to Chinese People’s Liberation Army forces, the indictment read.
“Active-duty soldiers pledging their allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party is an extremely vicious act,” it said.
Three of the suspects were accused of recruiting active-duty servicepeople to collect military information to “develop a network for China,” the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement.
The four officers that they enlisted were charged with handing over “multiple military secrets” to Beijing in exchange for money, it said without elaborating.
The 10th suspect was accused of stealing military secrets from a safe at his workplace.
“These 10 suspects are in active service or retired military officers, and receive salaries or pensions from the government. They have or had held positions in the armed forces, and were educated, trained and cultivated for many years by the government, and tasked with the duty of defending the nation,” the indictment said.
“Therefore the suspects are well-aware that loyalty to the nation is the most fundamental obligation of a soldier. However, they chose to betray the nation, broke their oath to protect state secrets and breached their duties as soldiers to defend the homeland,” it added.
“Due to personal greed, they betrayed the nation and its people by leaking and passing on numerous documents and materials pertaining to military and state secrets, which seriously harmed national security. It is painful to point out how these suspects betrayed their fellow soldiers in active duty by committing treason. They should therefore receive the severest punishment under the law,” it said.
Yesterday’s indictment was the latest in a recent string of espionage cases in the nation.
Last month, a retired air force colonel was sentenced to 20 years in prison for spying for Beijing and handing over confidential national security information.
In August, a father and son duo were indicted for recruiting two soldiers who allegedly helped them gather information for China about Taiwan’s Han Kuang military exercises.
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
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would