The High Court yesterday convicted eight current and retired military officers for developing a spy network for China, including a failed plot to fly a CH-47 Chinook attack helicopter to a Chinese aircraft carrier in the Taiwan Strait.
The defendants received sentences ranging from 18 months to 13 years for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍刑法) and taking bribes.
The defendants were with key military sites, including the 601st Brigade of Aviation and Special Forces Command and the Huadong Defense Command.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The initial investigation was conducted by the High Prosecutors’ Office, which received reports about two Taiwanese businessmen working in China, Chen Yu-hsin (陳裕炘) and Hsieh Ping-cheng (謝秉成), both retired army officers who were recruited by Chinese intelligence officers with promises of financial rewards to form a spy network in Taiwan among their friends and former colleagues in active service.
Beginning in 2021, Chen and Hsieh recruited several officers, including a trio serving at the Aviation and Special Forces Command — Lieutenant Colonel Hsieh Meng-shu (謝孟書), and junior officers Kang Yi-pin (康奕彬) and Ho Hsin-ju (何信儒) — as well as army Major Hsiao Hsiang-yun (蕭翔云) and junior officer Hung Jui-yang (洪睿洋).
Hsiao received NT$620,000 (US$19,396) from Chinese agents, while Kang received NT$700,000 and Ho NT$600,000 for obtaining and handing over classified military material, investigators said.
The Chinese agents sought classified material on troop deployments and Han Kuang drills, investigators said, adding that the most audacious plot was a reward of US$15 million promised to Hsieh Meng-shu, a military helicopter pilot and a special forces wing commander, to defect.
Hsieh Meng-shu agreed to fly a Chinook helicopter using the cover of a military exercise in June last year, they said.
The estimated 15-minute flight was to have ended on the Shandong aircraft carrier on the western side of the Taiwan Strait, they said.
However, a tip-off led to the arrest of Hsieh Meng-shu and his coconspirators before the plan could be carried out, investigators said.
Two junior officers in the spy network, Lu Chun-fang (陸駿方) and Wu Chih-peng (吳志鵬), received money from Chinese agents for filming themselves saying: “In time of war, I agree to surrender to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army,” the prosecutors’ office said.
The High Court judges sentenced Hsiao to 13 years in prison, Hsieh Meng-shu to nine years, Hsieh Ping-cheng and Hung to eight years, Ho to seven years and four months, Kang to seven years and two months and Lu to five years and six months, while an active service soldier surnamed Liu (劉) was handed an 18-month sentence. Wu was found not guilty.
Chen, a retired military officer who was recruited while working in China, could not be located and had likely fled to China, prosecutors said, adding that an arrest bulletin had been issued for him.
The Ministry of National Defense said in a statement that China has targeted Taiwan’s military and personnel for infiltration and espionage, so all units must enhance national security education and training to safeguard information.
All personnel must protect classified material, report suspicious activities promptly and cooperate with officers to prevent infiltration by spies, the ministry added.
Additional reporting by Wu Che-yu
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
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
RSS