The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday charged army Colonel Hsiang Te-en (向德恩) with corruption, accusing him of pledging allegiance to China and receiving payment from Chinese operatives to work as a spy.
Prosecutors asked a court to sentence Hsiang to 12 years in prison.
Hsiang is head of the Kaohsiung-based Army Infantry Training Command’s Operations Research and Development Division.
Photo: Copied by Huang Chia-lin, Taipei Times
He allegedly signed a “pledge of surrender” and promised to “serve, as best he may, in his office for the benefits of the motherland in the event of war across the [Taiwan] Strait,” the office said.
Hsiang could not be charged with contraventions of Article 2 of the National Security Act (國家安全法) or treason under the Criminal Code, because evidence had been removed from the cellphones of those implicated, it said.
Hsiang, 49, was recruited by Shao Wei-chiang (邵維強) to work as a Chinese spy, the indictment said.
Shao is a retired lieutenant who had until June 2019 worked as a Kinmen regional reporter for China Television. He also claimed to be a director at Want Want China Times Media Group’s (旺旺中時集團) Times International Advertising Co (時際創意傳媒), president of Kinmen County’s Cross-Strait Cultural and Economic Tourism Development Association, and the owner of a travel agency, the indictment said.
Shao learned in 2005 that his travel agency employed a woman named Yu (尤), whose then-husband, Hsiang, was in the military and began to make overtures to win Hsiang over, the indictment said.
Yu and Hsiang divorced in June 2018.
Shao treated Hsiang to banquets and gifts, and told Hsiang that he was a distant relative of late Chinese People’s Liberation Army general Xiang Shouzhi (向守志), the indictment said.
In January 2020, Hsiang donned his military uniform and made a video, stating: “I, Hsiang Te-en, here do pledge that I support the peaceful unification of both sides of the [Taiwan] Strait. I will serve the motherland and the organization, to the best of my abilities, while remaining in my current position, to ensure the holy and honorable mission of ushering in peaceful reunification as early as possible,” the indictment said.
Hsiang received NT$40,000 a month for working as a spy, totaling NT$560,000 over 14 months, it said.
When he was being led out of an army base on Sept. 26, Hsiang said that he had signed the pledge after seeing other senior officers making similar pledges, the indictment said.
Hsiang has denied the corruption charges.
Implicated military personnel are being investigated by the Ministry of National Defense, the office said.
The ministry said that its Political Warfare Bureau is looking into other military officials who might be involved.
The incident highlights the threat that Chinese intelligence operations pose to the military, the ministry said, adding that its preventive measures are effective.
The ministry will continue to bolster counterespionage education for officers, as well as rank-and-file soldiers, it said.
The ministry would also work closely with national security agencies to thwart Chinese intelligence-gathering efforts, it added.
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS