A growing number of Chinese espionage operations have been uncovered in the past year, and some members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and top officials in government agencies have been detained on suspicion of spying for China. These cases signal an imminent risk of China intensifying espionage operations to “invade Taiwan without firing a shot.”
In February, prosecutors launched a probe into former DPP member Huang Chu-jing (黃取榮), a former assistant to New Taipei City Councilor Lee Yu-tien (李余典), who was accused of developing a spy ring in Taiwan. Following the investigation, former DPP member Chiu Shih-yuan (邱世元) and former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨) were detained on suspicion of leaking confidential information to China after being recruited by Huang.
Last month, Sheng Chu-ying (盛礎纓), a former assistant to several DPP legislators — including former legislative speaker You Si-Kun (游錫?) — was also investigated after allegations that he was recruited by Chinese intelligence during a trip to China in 2019.
The latest person added to the list of suspected Chinese spies is Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑), who is suspected of spying for China when he was an assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) between 2018 and last year.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has a history of deploying spy tactics against Taiwan. In 1949, then-CCP leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東) had said that an invasion of Taiwan did not just need ground and air troops, it also needed “inside forces,” or agents inside the country, as the easiest way to capture a fortress is from within.
Although the number of Chinese spies indicted has tripled to 159 people since 2020, the National Security Bureau estimates that there are up to 5,000 undercover agents in Taiwan. More findings showed that China’s espionage efforts have deeply permeated society to lure Taiwanese from all sectors into the spy network, with people with access to confidential information the priority targets.
With increasing exchanges across the Taiwan Strait and China’s growing ambitions for global expansion, Beijing’s escalating espionage operations are not just menacing to Taiwan, they also pose massive threats to international society, especially Western democratic states. The US over the past few years has indicted several intelligence personnel for working for China, showing that Beijing has ramped up its intelligence operations, from stealing technology and monitoring political dissidents to consolidating control and influence over enterprises and intelligence agencies such as the CIA and the FBI. A growing number of European countries are also becoming more vigilant of Chinese spies infiltrating their parliaments.
President William Lai (賴清德) recently announced a slew of plans to counter Chinese infiltration of military and civilian groups. However, the latest astonishing list of officials suspected of spying for China has shown a lack of anti-spy vigilance, and severe and long-existing gaps in government agencies’ security vetting systems, which need more comprehensive and multi-faceted efforts to rectify.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party are decrying the DPP and the government over the spy cases. However, they have blocked more than a dozen amendments to national security laws, such as changes to the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法), the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍刑法), that aimed to bolster anti-spy schemes through higher penalties, stricter employment processes, requiring that visits to China be reported and screening foreign arrivals.
Countering Chinese intelligence is an imminent, but challenging task that requires the public’s support and cross-party cooperation. Any political move that counters Taiwan’s self-defense efforts should be curbed, lest they turn into “inner forces” that fuel China’s hostile infiltration.
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