Military officials said China has stepped up espionage around Taiwan’s sensitive defense installations in recent weeks, with Chinese intelligence operatives posing as tourists to take photographs and gather information at Jioupeng Military Base (九鵬基地) in the south.
The latest incident occurred on Friday last week, the day before the meeting between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Singapore, when a Chinese tourist was stopped from taking closeup pictures of technical staff and officers in uniform at several restaurants just outside of Jioupeng Military Base, which is on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Pingtung County’s Manzhou Township (滿州).
A military official who requested anonymity said there were numerous incidents of suspected espionage activities around Jioupeng, a base that houses the nation’s most advanced guided missiles and a vital installation for missile test-fire launches, by Chinese who were taking photographs in the area, some carrying sophisticated cameras and photography equipment.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
The timing of their activities was judged to be too much of a coincidence, because the technical and operational staff at the Jioupeng base were busy conducting various scheduled missile firing and flight tests from Oct. 21 to Friday, with two daily sessions in the morning and in the afternoon, the military official said.
In light of Xi’s remark in Singapore that more than 1,000 missiles in China’s southeast provinces were not aimed at Taiwan, the official said: “It is appalling that China is playing a two-faced tactic to deceive us. Chinese officials said they want to reduce cross-strait hostilities, but they are actively spying on our most important missile base.”
“Opening up our nation’s tourism to independent travelers from China has caused too much trouble for our military installations,” he said.
The Chinese man in Friday’s incident spoke with a Cantonese accent and said he was an independent tourist traveling around Taiwan when questioned by military officers after taking pictures of uniformed personnel.
The officers found he had taken many close-up photographs, including ones of name tags, of technical staff and military officers from the base. He was forced to delete those pictures, then released.
In the first week of this month, a local resident reported to authorities that an unidentified person carrying sophisticated photography equipment had driven to a hill opposite the Jioupeng base and pointed his camera at base installations.
When local police arrived in their cruiser, the man sped off.
There were also incidents reported of Chinese tourists “playing” with drones that have cameras on them outside the Jioupeng base last month.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RSS