The High Court on Wednesday handed a coast guard corporal surnamed Wu (吳) a reduced sentence, after a Kaohsiung court last year found her guilty of espionage and selling classified materials about the nation’s shoreline defense to a Chinese national in exchange for cryptocurrency.
Wu had received a six-year-and-two-month sentence from the Kaohsiung Ciaotou District Court on two counts of bribery-related charges. Prosecutors filed an appeal, saying the prison term was too lenient.
Wu also appealed, saying her punishment was too severe.
Photo: Pao Chien-hsin, Taipei Times
The High Court’s Kaohsiung branch in the second ruling upheld the conviction, but reduced her sentence to five years and 11 months. She was also deprived of her civil rights for three years, which could still be appealed.
Prosecutors said Wu was approached by a Chinese surnamed Wang (王), who found out she worked in the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). Wang asked her to obtain classified materials in exchange for cryptocurrency worth more than NT$70,000 (US$2,122).
Evidence showed that in late 2023, Wu took photos of classified documents stored in a computer at her CGA office, including drill records, reports on shoreline defense and information on southern radar stations.
Wu agreed to gather more national secret materials for Wang, such as critical infrastructure and defense plans on outlying islands, and was paid NT$500,000, prosecutors said, adding that she also handed classified information on coast guard and coastal fleets, radar deployment and personnel stationed at the Pratas Islands, (Dongsha Islands, 東沙島).
Wu asked fellow CGA personnel for the materials through Line, but was rebuffed, prosecutors said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
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
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS