The High Court yesterday convicted eight current and retired military officers for developing a spy network for China, including a failed plot to fly a CH-47 Chinook attack helicopter to a Chinese aircraft carrier in the Taiwan Strait.
The defendants received sentences ranging from 18 months to 13 years for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍刑法) and taking bribes.
The defendants were with key military sites, including the 601st Brigade of Aviation and Special Forces Command and the Huadong Defense Command.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The initial investigation was conducted by the High Prosecutors’ Office, which received reports about two Taiwanese businessmen working in China, Chen Yu-hsin (陳裕炘) and Hsieh Ping-cheng (謝秉成), both retired army officers who were recruited by Chinese intelligence officers with promises of financial rewards to form a spy network in Taiwan among their friends and former colleagues in active service.
Beginning in 2021, Chen and Hsieh recruited several officers, including a trio serving at the Aviation and Special Forces Command — Lieutenant Colonel Hsieh Meng-shu (謝孟書), and junior officers Kang Yi-pin (康奕彬) and Ho Hsin-ju (何信儒) — as well as army Major Hsiao Hsiang-yun (蕭翔云) and junior officer Hung Jui-yang (洪睿洋).
Hsiao received NT$620,000 (US$19,396) from Chinese agents, while Kang received NT$700,000 and Ho NT$600,000 for obtaining and handing over classified military material, investigators said.
The Chinese agents sought classified material on troop deployments and Han Kuang drills, investigators said, adding that the most audacious plot was a reward of US$15 million promised to Hsieh Meng-shu, a military helicopter pilot and a special forces wing commander, to defect.
Hsieh Meng-shu agreed to fly a Chinook helicopter using the cover of a military exercise in June last year, they said.
The estimated 15-minute flight was to have ended on the Shandong aircraft carrier on the western side of the Taiwan Strait, they said.
However, a tip-off led to the arrest of Hsieh Meng-shu and his coconspirators before the plan could be carried out, investigators said.
Two junior officers in the spy network, Lu Chun-fang (陸駿方) and Wu Chih-peng (吳志鵬), received money from Chinese agents for filming themselves saying: “In time of war, I agree to surrender to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army,” the prosecutors’ office said.
The High Court judges sentenced Hsiao to 13 years in prison, Hsieh Meng-shu to nine years, Hsieh Ping-cheng and Hung to eight years, Ho to seven years and four months, Kang to seven years and two months and Lu to five years and six months, while an active service soldier surnamed Liu (劉) was handed an 18-month sentence. Wu was found not guilty.
Chen, a retired military officer who was recruited while working in China, could not be located and had likely fled to China, prosecutors said, adding that an arrest bulletin had been issued for him.
The Ministry of National Defense said in a statement that China has targeted Taiwan’s military and personnel for infiltration and espionage, so all units must enhance national security education and training to safeguard information.
All personnel must protect classified material, report suspicious activities promptly and cooperate with officers to prevent infiltration by spies, the ministry added.
Additional reporting by Wu Che-yu
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
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
‘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
RSS