Officers found guilty of spying for foreign nations would face harsher punishment under draft amendments to the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法) that received preliminary legislative approval yesterday in Taipei.
The main draft amendment addresses Article 30 and would add a half term to the court’s sentence if a convict has been an officer for national security or related intelligence duties.
Legislators also approved making the amendment applicable to military personnel within a year of their retirement, in the wake of numerous cases of recently retired military officers found spying for China over the past few years.
In some cases, judges appeared to give lighter sentences because the convicted retired military officers were officially civilians. Such verdicts led to public anger and condemnation.
The session took place during yesterday’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting at the legislature, with National Security Bureau Director-General Lee Shying-jow (李翔宙) on hand to answer questions and discuss the draft amendments and the bureau’s budget.
Lee confirmed that there have been 33 cases of alleged Chinese espionage over the past five years, including investigations, charges or convictions leading to sentencing.
All involved Taiwanese nationals — many who were military officials — being recruited by Chinese intelligence agents or military officers to carry out espionage activities, hand over classified information and undermine Taiwan’s national security.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) asked the government agencies to cut off pensions for retired military personnel who are found guilty of espionage.
Tsai said that 33 Chinese espionage cases are too many, but also there are more not yet discovered.
“The Chinese government has given a mandate to intensify its espionage work in Taiwan — for more infiltrations, recruitment of agents and gathering intelligence. All these efforts are to destabilize Taiwan and to promote ‘unification’ with China,” Tsai said. “They are seizing this final year of Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) presidency to activate a more vigorous campaign. It is very serious, as Ma has left our nation’s door wide open to Chinese visitors. They want to deny Taiwanese aspirations for an independent nation.”
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
RSS