Ex-Legislator and Former Admiral of Taiwan Alleged to be Chinese Spies

loading…

Former Taiwan legislator and former admiral charged with spying for China. Photo/Illustration/Sindonews

TAIPEI – Taiwan has charged two former state officials with violating national security laws by arranging meetings between former senior military officers and Chinese intelligence personnel.

The meetings allegedly allowed the Chinese to contact and even recruit former military officers into their network.

Prosecutors said the couple arranged 13 free trips to mainland China for 48 former officers from 2013 to 2018.

Previously, the two denied that they were recruiting spies for China.

“The meeting also promoted China’s unification with Taiwan,” the prosecutor said as quoted by the BBC, Sunday (19/3/2023).

Retired admiral Hsia Fu-hsiang and former lawmaker Lo Chih-ming face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Beijing and Taipei have spied on each other since the end of a civil war in 1949 that saw the Communist Party control the mainland while nationalists settled on the island of Taiwan.

Prosecutors said Hsia and Lo had been involved with a Chinese organization advocating unification since 2013. The two men had been in detention since January.

But there was no evidence to suggest the retired officers who joined the trip collected classified information for China, so they were listed as witnesses, prosecutors said.