The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday confirmed to the Taipei Times that US authorities are assisting Taiwan with an investigation into the activities of General Lo Hsien-che (羅賢哲), who was arrested last month on suspicion of spying for China.
Lo’s espionage activity, described as possibly the worst spy case to hit Taiwan in the past half century, is believed to have begun in 2004 when he was recruited by Chinese intelligence while he was posted in Thailand. News of the arrest sparked fears that Taiwan’s military might have been severely compromised, especially its command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems, to which Lo is believed to have had access.
As the great majority of defense platforms used by Taiwan’s military are acquired from the US, there has also been speculation that the developments could have negative repercussions on US-Taiwan military relations at a time when US President Barack Obama’s administration already appears reluctant to release additional arms packages to Taipei.
One possible casualty, some analysts claim, could be the politically sensitive sale of F-16C/D aircraft to Taiwan.
Following announcements by the military that a probe into Lo’s actions has been launched, AIT spokesperson Sheila Paskman told the Taipei Times by telephone that US authorities were assisting with the investigation, without specifying the level of assistance or which agency was involved.
Asked to confirm US involvement in the investigation, the Ministry of National Defense said it had no comment on the case, citing investigation confidentiality. However, it said that if there were concrete developments in the investigation, the ministry would offer a public explanation at the appropriate time.
According to reports, Washington informed Taipei of Lo’s activities after US intelligence officials operating in Asia intercepted communications between him and his Chinese handlers.
Despite Lo’s access to classified defense material, a preliminary damage assessment shared with the Taipei Times indicates that the information Lo might have passed to Chinese intelligence was not highly sensitive or overwhelmingly damaging to Taiwan’s security.
Asked to comment on the possible impact of the Lo case on the US-Taiwan security relationship, Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, which is closely involved in arms sales to Taiwan, said the ramifications would likely be minimal.
“The US has a global exports control policy,” he said, with the risks inherent to technological transfers always factored in on decisions whether to sell arms to a country or not.
“Leaks [like the Lo case] don’t typically impact important security relations” such as that between Taiwan and the US, he said.
Although the scope and impact of Lo’s espionage activity has yet to be fully established, Hammond-Chambers said he believed that, in the worst case scenario, the incident would add further delays to defense cooperation projects while the authorities conduct a damage assessment.
However, Wendell Minnick, Asia bureau chief at Defense News, said the arrest was further evidence Taiwan’s communications networks would suffer “catastrophic failure” during a war with China.
The main focus of Chinese espionage against Taiwan’s military, Minnick said, has been the Po Sheng (“Broad Victory”) program, an umbrella project to modernize Taiwan’s C4ISR capabilities.
“No more evidence is needed than the arrests over the past several years of other spies working for China, including two senior US Pentagon officials, Gregg Bergersen and James Fondren,” he said.
Bergersen, director of the Pentagon’s C4ISR efforts at the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, was the Pentagon’s top official on Po Sheng efforts. Chinese intelligence recruited him via Kuo Tai-shen (郭台生), a Taiwanese spy who was also working on Po Sheng.
Fondren was also recruited by Kuo and provided information to China on a variety of defense programs. All three are now in a US federal prison.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
RSS