The Legislative Yuan’s Judicial Committee is tomorrow to review a draft amendment to the Criminal Code proposed by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) stipulating that Chinese spies and their collaborators should be convicted of “offenses against the external security of the state” (外患罪).
None of the punishments stipulated in the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍刑法), the National Security Act (國家安全法), the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法) and the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法) are strict enough to deter spies, Wang said.
While those laws have been amended over the past few years to stipulate stricter penalties, they are still too lenient and have proven ineffective in deterring spies, he said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Former Chinese People’s Liberation Army intelligence officer Zhen Xiaojiang (鎮小江), the mastermind behind the nation’s most serious security breach, in 2015 received a four-year prison term under the National Security Act.
Retired major general Hsu Nai-chuan (許乃權) was given a 34-month sentence for colluding with Zhen, with his pension payments to resume once he leaves jail.
Had the pair been tried under the Criminal Code, they could have received a life sentence or the death penalty.
However, as the Constitution includes China in the nation’s territory, their crimes are not legally regarded as “foreign aggression.”
The bill aims to circumvent the legal obstacle by changing the wording in the Criminal Code addressing espionage from “foreign nations” (外國) to “foreign nations or the nation’s enemies” (外國或敵人) and from “enemy nations” (敵國) to “enemies” (敵人).
The bill defines “enemies” as “countries or organizations that engage in armed conflict or a military standoff with the Republic of China” (與中華民國交戰或武力對峙之國家或團體), the wording used in the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces.
Only by associating Chinese spies with offenses against the security of the state by a foreign aggressor can they be effectively curbed, Wang said.
Wang submitted the legislation in November last year, but the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus struck it down 10 times before the DPP caucus on Tuesday voted to send it to committee review.
The Ministry of Justice said the laws are in place to punish any action that compromises national security or is against the nation’s interests.
It advised against amending the Criminal Code, saying that the wording in one of the bill’s articles alternates between “enemies” and “enemy nations” and includes “the nation,” which it called a loophole.
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS