The Military Intelligence Bureau has denied compensation to a man who was caught in China in 2006 and incarcerated for four years for allegedly spying — on the grounds that he was not a bureau personnel.
The 40-plus-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), who comes from a relatively well-off family, often went to China on tours and was introduced to his handlers — surnamed Lo (羅) and Chen — by a friend, surnamed Wu (吳), who said they were employees of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC).
The two, who actually worked for the bureau, told Chen they hoped he would be able to bring back some information for them during his travels in China, which they could use to get funds and pay for his plane tickets.
Under the guise of being MAC personnel, the two bureau employees were said to have asked Chen to bring back local newspapers and maps from Zhejiang, Ningbo and Zhoushan, saying they wanted to get some information on places where they could set up factories.
When he returned to Taiwan and “debriefed” his two handlers, they told him the information was insufficient to subsidize his plane fare and asked him, on his next visit, to get the location of ports where military vessels entered and exited, as well as published materials of Taiwanese accused of being spies for Taiwan.
From 2003 until 2006, Chen was said to have brought back the information his handlers wanted under the guise of being a tourist, but in September 2006, he was arrested by the Chinese Ministry of State Security in Taishan, Guangdong Province, and sentenced to four years in jail for acting as a source for the bureau.
Chen said he only learned in court that the officials he thought he was working for were actually Military Intelligence Bureau personnel.
“If I really were a Taiwanese spy, China would have jailed me for more than a decade,” Chen said.
“They [Taiwanese authorities] didn’t even come to my help as required by law when I was incarcerated, and they didn’t even compensate me when I was released,” Chen said.
The bureau said on Sunday it had denied his request for compensation in accordance with the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法).
It said that compensation or subsidies would be legally given to intelligence officers, former -intelligence officers or intelligence sources who were arrested. However, no compensation or subsidies can be given in cases that were not documented.
Compensation for intelligence sources who are arrested is a matter of privacy, the bureau said, adding that as Chen’s case was in the appeal process, it would be inappropriate to comment on the matter.
TRANSLATED BY JAKE CHUNG, STAFF WRITER
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