Authorities have extended a travel ban and other restrictions on a suspected Chinese intelligence officer and his wife, who were charged with money laundering and breaches of the National Security Act (國家安全法), the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said on Friday.
Xiang Xin (向心) and his wife, Kung Ching (龔青), were on Thursday last week charged with breaching the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) in a case related to self-professed Chinese spy William Wang Liqiang (王立強).
Restrictions barring the couple from leaving the country, which expire today, were extended for another eight months, as an investigation continues into allegations that they established a spy network in Taiwan.
Xiang and Kung were stopped at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Nov. 24, 2019, while allegedly attempting to flee the country, one day after Australian media aired interviews with Wang.
Wang told reporters that he had conducted espionage in Taiwan and that Xiang was a spy for China, directing espionage activities, intelligence gathering and covert operations in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The couple had registered China Innovation Investment Ltd (中國創新投資) in Taipei, with Xiang as executive director and Kung as acting director, prosecutors said, adding that they invested in real estate, purchasing three luxury condominium units in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義).
Wang told Australian media that the firm was a shell company, “whose founding mission was to infiltrate Hong Kong, but was later tasked with influencing elections in Taiwan.”
Over the past decade, the couple had illegally transferred about NT$740 million (US$26.02 million at the current exchange rate), mainly from the Shanghai-based Guotai Investment Holding Group (國太投資), prosecutors said.
In 2018, a Shanghai court sentenced Guotai Investment executives to prison for terms ranging from 12 years to life after they were found guilty of earning 40 billion yuan (US$6.1 billion at the current exchange rate) from illegal investment schemes. The business was dissolved.
Prosecutors said the couple laundered money for Guotai Investment executives.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by