A Chinese Ministry of State Security statement that it has “uncovered thousands of Taiwanese spying cases” is nothing more than Beijing’s latest attempt to intimidate Taiwanese, an expert on China said yesterday.
The ministry yesterday wrote on Sina Weibo that it was “resolute in carrying out the holy mandate prescribed by the central party to defend against and crush and punish efforts of espionage and infiltration against the Chinese homeland.”
It said it has “uncovered thousands of Taiwanese spying cases,” disrupted a spy network that had been established in China and arrested “Taiwanese independence leaders” such as Yang Chih-yuan (楊智淵) and others.
Photo: Screen grab from the Chinese ministry of State Security’s Sina Weibo page
The ministry did not give details about the cases or when they had been uncovered.
Hung Chin-fu (洪敬富), a political science professor at National Cheng Kung University, said he questioned the validity of the claims, as the Chinese ministry in January wrote on Sina Weibo that “national defense institutes has uncovered hundreds of Taiwanese spying cases and disrupted spy networks established by Taiwanese intelligence units.”
China’s “inflation” of Taiwanese spying cases demonstrates that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is trying to portray itself as an administration under attack, within and from abroad, Hung said.
The CCP is also equating “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists” with national security risks, he added.
Beijing’s claims that “the [CCP’s] endeavors and major achievements over the past century provide the most solid foundation for strengthening our confidence in the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics” is undermined, as its actions show that it does not have confidence or feel secure, he said.
Yang is a civilian and in Taiwan is not even considered a “Taiwan independence leader,” Hung said, adding that Yang’s arrest is an attempt by China to intimidate Taiwan.
Separately, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) said Center for China and Globalization vice president Victor Gao’s (高志凱) recent comments during an al-Jazeera interview were preposterous and unworthy of comment.
Gao told broadcaster Mehdi Hasan that “after the reunification, everyone in Taiwan need to make a pledge whether they acknowledge there is only one China and Taiwan is part of China.”
Additional reporting by Huang Ching-hsuan
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