Retired vice admiral Ko Cheng-sheng (柯政盛) will have to serve a 14-month jail sentence for spying for China after the Supreme Court yesterday upheld the Taiwan High Court’s ruling and sentence.
The High Court convicted Ko of espionage in September last year, but he appealed the verdict.
As a high-ranking naval officer, Ko “disregarded national security, introducing other high-ranking military officers to China, offering them an opportunity of which they could take advantage,” the Supreme Court said in its ruling.
“Ko has violated the highest belief, that soldiers should be loyal to their country,” it said.
It also upheld the conviction of Shen Ping-kang (沈秉康), a businessman friend of Ko who was found guilty of enticing him to spy for China. Shen was sentenced to 12 months in jail.
The Supreme Court ruling said that Shen had invited Ko and his family to visit Australia and Beijing several times between 1998 and 2007, and that during the trips he introduced Ko to Chinese intelligence officials.
After he retired from the navy, Ko arranged meetings between two senior naval officers and Chinese officials in a failed attempt to recruit them to spy for China, the ruling said.
Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) said the ministry respected the Supreme Court’s verdict.
The ministry called on all of its reserve personnel to “put the nation’s interests and security before everything” and to refrain from engaging in any wrongdoing that would harm the nation.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
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