The Supreme Court yesterday rejected an appeal by a Kaohsiung businessman surnamed Tu, who is headed to prison after being found guilty in an earlier ruling of breaches of the National Security Act (國家安全法).
Kaohsiung prosecutors accused Tu of developing a spy network for China, recruiting military personnel and bribing them to obtain government information.
He was indicted in 2017 along with three members of the military.
In the second ruling in July 2018, Tu was found guilty and received a 10-month sentence, which he appealed. The three military personnel were sentenced to terms of five to 11 months, which were commuted to fines. They did not appeal.
In a trial at the Taiwan High Court last year, Tu received a reduced term of nine months on grounds that the documents he had supplied to China were not classified. He appealed again, but the Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s decision, which is now final.
Prosecutors said Tu, who ran a confectionery business, in 2009 befriended two Chinese officials surnamed Dong (董) and Zhang (張).
Tu talked about his connections in the Kaohsiung area, and agreed to recruit people in Taiwan’s armed forces to gain access to confidential military material in exchange for money, prosecutors said.
Tu recruited retired sergeant major Wang Jui-chi (王瑞祺), who was in charge of an ammunition depot in Kaohsiung’s Cishan District (旗山) while he was in the Army Logistics Command, they said.
Tu introduced Wang to the Chinese officials and Dong gave Tu cash to give to Wang, they said.
Wang in 2012 recruited two sergeants surnamed Hou (侯) and Chen (陳) after learning that they were in need of money, prosecutors said.
Hou and Chen obtained reports on “application of military doctrine,” air force telecommunications operations and manuals for field artillery units, which were sent to China, prosecutors said.
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
FATE UNKNOWN: The owner of the dog could face a fine of up to NT$150,000 and the animal could be euthanized if he cannot show that he can effectively supervise it A pit bull terrier has been confiscated by authorities after it yesterday morning bit a motorcyclist in Taipei, following footage of the same dog in a similar attack going viral online earlier this month. When the owner, surnamed Hsu (徐), stopped at a red light on Daan District’s (大安) Wolong Street at 8am, the dog, named “Lucky,” allegedly rolled down the automatic window of the pickup truck they were riding in, leapt out of the rear passenger window and attacked a motorcyclist behind them, Taipei’s Daan District Police Precinct said. The dog clamped down on the man’s leg and only let go
RSS