The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted four retired Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB) officials, who are accused of providing China with a list of bureau personnel and other classified materials while attempting to recruit colleagues into a spy network in Taiwan.
Prosecutors charged Chang Chao-jan (張超然), Chou Tien-tzu (周天慈) and Wang Ta-wang (王大旺), former colonels at the bureau, and Yueh Chih-chung (岳志忠) — a former major general and chief of the MIB’s Fifth Bureau, where he was in charge of sending agents to China on covert assignments — with breaches of the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法).
In 1999 Chang was dispatched to China to locate a fellow MIB officer surnamed Lu (陸), who was arrested by Chinese authorities, prosecutors said, adding that Chang had befriended a Chinese security official surnamed Wei (韋), based in Guangzhou.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Chang was recruited to spy for China by Wei, who enticed Chang with money and travel, prosecutors said, adding that Wei instructed Chang to provide names of MIB personnel and their job functions.
Investigators said that Chou was later recruited, and he and Chang worked in tandem, passing on classified information and materials, as well introducing fellow officers to Wei when they were in China, sometimes on official assignments.
After their retirement, Chang and Chou made numerous trips to China starting in 2012, on the pretext that they were on personal or family vacations, and met with Wei and other Chinese intelligence officers, prosecutors said.
They later learned that Yueh had plans to visit his family in China, but Yueh was concerned that his MIB background might make it difficult for him to enter the country, prosecutors said, adding that Chang and Chou then persuaded Yueh to meet Wei in Macau.
The three flew to Macau in 2012, where they met with Wei, who worked with Yueh to identify more than 20 MIB agents from photographs, prosecutors said.
After being promised money, Yueh allegedly agreed to provide other classified information on the bureau’s operations, hierarchy and structure, they said, adding that Yueh was paid HK$6,000 (US$774) and received other gifts.
Chou allegedly accompanied Yueh to China in 2016 and 2018, when they met with Wei and other Chinese intelligence officers to provide additional classified information, prosecutors said, adding that Yueh allegedly later took trips to other Chinese cities with all expenses and accommodation paid for by Wei.
Chang in 2016 allegedly persuaded Wang to visit China, as Wang also had family there, prosecutors said.
Wang visited Guangzhou in August that year and had a meeting with Wei, during which Wang allegedly agreed to provide information on the bureau and other Taiwanese intelligence operations, in exchange for money and gifts, prosecutors said.
Investigators said that Chang and Chou were also active in Taiwan, working to recruit bureau and military officers to develop a spy network to access and obtain sensitive materials for the Chinese government in exchange for money.
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