A senior Taiwanese military officer was taken into custody on Monday on charges of leaking confidential intelligence to China, in a case described as the highest level of espionage in the past 20 years and which has put Taiwanese spies operating in China in grave danger.
The officer, who worked for the Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB), was identified as Colonel Lo Chi-cheng (羅奇正). Lo, who reports said was in charge at the bureau of building Taiwan’s spy network in China, is suspected of forwarding classified information and data to unauthorized personnel in violation of national laws.
The Military High Court agreed to a request to keep Lo detained pending further investigation by military judicial authorities on the grounds that Lo could impair national security or collude with witnesses to give false testimony if freed, a press release said.
Newspaper reports said military prosecutors believed Lo collaborated with a China-based Taiwanese businessman, identified as Lo Pin (羅斌), to collect military intelligence for China. Lo Pin has also been detained, pending the progress of the investigation, reports said.
According to the Chinese--language Apple Daily, some of the classified information passed on to China included lists of spies stationed in China.
The information is believed to have compromised crucial Taiwanese intelligence networks in China and the agents were now “running for their lives,” an unnamed military source told the paper.
However, ministry spokesman Major General Yu Sy-tue (虞思祖) told a press conference yesterday that the damage caused to the Taiwanese military was relatively low.
Prosecutors said Lo Pin was recruited by the MIB in 2004 to serve as a source in China, where he went under the cover of a Taiwanese businessman.
However, Lo Pin’s cover was blown, which led to his arrest in Fujian Province by the end of 2004.
Lo Pin told prosecutors he was tortured by Chinese security -officials for 15 days before confessing that Lo Chi-cheng was his handler in Taiwanese intelligence.
Prosecutors said Lo Pin returned to Taiwan to persuade Lo Chi-cheng to collect classified information for China and beginning in 2007, Lo Chi-cheng started to forward classified information to Lo Pin, which he then allegedly handed over to Chinese intelligence in Hong Kong.
Lo Chi-cheng received a payment of between US$4,000 and US$6,000 each time he passed information, while Lo Pin received a payment between US$2,000 and US$3,000, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they suspected Lo Chi-cheng leaked classified information to China on at least 12 occasions. Over that period, Lo Chi-cheng is believed to have amassed as much as US$100,000 in payments from Chinese intelligence.
The Chinese-language United Daily News said the MIB had been monitoring Lo Chi-cheng’s actions for “quite some time” and laid the groundwork to collect evidence and witnesses.
Acting on a tipoff that Lo Chi-cheng was about to pass military intelligence to Lo Pin late last month, military prosecutors cooperated with the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office and the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) to pursue the case, the United Daily News said.
Investigators who searched the residences of the two men found bank passbooks and other data related to the case. MJIB agents have also questioned holders of proxy accounts linked to the case who admitted being asked by Lo Chi-cheng to open them for his intelligence purposes, the paper said.
On Saturday, investigators -followed the two suspects to a post office in Banciao (板橋), where Lo Chi-cheng gave Lo Pin a flash drive believed to contain classified military information.
Commenting on the matter in the legislature yesterday, DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) questioned whether cross-strait espionage had yet to decrease despite warming economic relations with China.
“If the government is so optimistic about cross-strait relations, then why are the espionage battles between the two sides still so heated?” he asked.
He also expressed concern that Taiwan’s spy network in China could have been compromised and said that the government should consider negotiating the protection of Taiwanese spies in China and their safe return to Taiwan.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO, CNA AND STAFF WRITER
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative