A national security analyst yesterday said that China’s Ministry of State Security has overstepped its jurisdiction within the Chinese government, a day after the secret police branch claimed to have uncovered thousands of Taiwanese espionage cases.
The ministry wrote on Sina Weibo it had “uncovered thousands of Taiwanese spying cases” and that it was “resolute in carrying out the holy mandate prescribed by the party to defend against and crush and punish espionage and infiltration efforts against the Chinese homeland.”
It said it had arrested “Taiwanese independence leaders” such as Yang Chih-yuan (楊智淵).
Photo: EPA-EFE
The claims are unverified, and the ministry has been seeking to empower itself at the expense of other Chinese agencies, Institute for National Defense and Security Research fellow Shen Ming-shih (沈明室) said.
That the ministry called attention to its purported success in counterespionage, protection of national security secrets and countering Taiwanese independence movement appears to be a gesture by officials to curry favor with China’s leadership, he said.
The security ministry has repeatedly exceeded its authority, including airing on social media criticism of the US and other foreign governments, a matter the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs is usually responsible for, Shen said.
The ministry could be showing its frustration with the perceived weakness of other government ministries, he said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) joined five other government ministries and agencies in issuing 22 guidelines targeting Taiwanese deemed to support independence, using strong language when referring to Taiwan as it is the Chinese government body tasked with overseeing the matter, Shen said.
Yet the security ministry has “jumped in,” making its views on the matter known amid competition between agencies, he said.
The confabulation of counterespionage and fighting the Taiwanese independence movement — tasks that have nothing to do with one another — showed the security ministry’s motive was to “signal to the outside world that it has met its performance metrics,” he said.
Its claim that Yang is a “Taiwanese independence leader” is contradicted by the man’s absence on the TAO’s list of 10 “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” Shen said.
“The Ministry of State Security’s job is counterintelligence, which has nothing to do with countering Taiwanese independence,” he said. “It is laughable for the ministry to butt in.”
The Mainland Affairs Council said the Chinese Ministry of State Security’s claims about capturing Taiwanese nationals stemmed from a desire to exaggerate its achievements and underscored the danger posed by Beijing’s vague laws.
“Every Taiwanese who believes in freedom and not the Chinese Communist Party’s ideology is at risk of being branded a separatist or spy by China’s state security establishment,” it said.
A vessel owned by Taiwan’s cargo container shipping company Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp caught fire after an explosion occurred in a container on board while the ship was at the busy Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan in eastern China on Friday. Yang Ming Marine confirmed the incident and said a preliminary investigation found that the explosion occurred in a container on its vessel, the YM Mobility, which reportedly arrived in Ningbo early on Friday morning after its last call in Shanghai. “Immediate fire control measures were taken, and the situation is now under control,” Yang Ming Marine said in a statement. “All crew
‘UNITING TAIWAN’: While the boxer’s home town is offering free train and sports center access, stores around the nation are offering discounts to celebrate her victory New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) yesterday declared Aug. 12 “Lin Yu-ting Day” after the Taiwanese boxer won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg category at the Paris Olympics. Lin’s hometown is in the city’s Yingge District (鶯歌). The final between Lin and Poland’s Julia Szeremeta was broadcast live at the city hall early yesterday morning, where Hou, Lin’s mother and more than 200 people rooted for her. Thunderous roars and applause erupted at the city hall when the referee lifted Lin’s hand to show she had won. To celebrate Lin’s hard-won victory, Aug. 12 would be designated Lin
The number of foreign students attending Taiwanese universities last year dropped 9.46 percent from 2019, mainly due to a marked decline in the number of Chinese students, the National Audit Office said in a report. Last year, there were 116,038 foreign students — 67,299 degree students and 48,739 non-degree students — a decrease of 12,119, or 9.46 percent, from 128,157 in 2019, the report said. China in 2020 stopped allowing Chinese students to study in Taiwan, saying that COVID-19 pandemic controls and “the cross-strait situation” were the reasons for the change. Chinese who had already come to Taiwan were allowed finish their
WAR OF WORDS: The former Australian PM doubled down after Nancy Pelosi said that describing Taiwan as ‘Chinese real estate’ was ‘a stupid statement to make’ A war of words over Taiwan has broken out between former Australian prime minister Paul Keating and former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi, after the prominent Democrat accused Keating of making a “stupid statement” about the nation. Keating was quick to hit back yesterday, saying in a statement that Pelosi had “very nearly” sparked a military confrontation between the US and China over her “indulgent” 2022 visit to Taiwan. The dispute began after the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) published an excerpt of an upcoming interview with Pelosi in which she rebuked Keating for describing Taiwan as “Chinese real estate.” “That’s ridiculous.