Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war.
The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said.
They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said.
Photo: screen grab from the Ministry of the Interior Web site
Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China for business after his retirement, they said.
Chu in 2019 linked up with a man surnamed Zhang (張), a Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officer, and agreed to set up a spy network and engage in political activities in Taiwan, they said.
Chu later founded the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, they said.
The party’s slogan was “Revival of the Chinese nation, peace and happiness for all people,” they said.
The Taiwan High Court’s Taichung branch is overseeing the case. In addition to the National Security Act, the suspects are also accused of contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法). They are in detention pending trial.
Chu had allegedly obtained about NT$3 million (US$91,233) in funds for operations in Taiwan, prosecutors said, adding that it included NT$1.8 million he received via WeChat, NT$670,000 wired from unregistered remittance services and money he brought back from China.
The suspects prepared plans to recruit active and retired army personnel to establish a pro-China party, prosecutors said.
They formed spy networks and paramilitary groups, including snipers and assassination squads to kill government officials and politicians during a possible Chinese invasion, they said.
They waited as a sleeper cell to start an insurrection and infiltrate 100,000 PLA members into Taiwan, they said.
This is a very serious case of collusion with China, prosecutors said.
If the suspects are found guilty, they would lose their retirement pension according to Article 13 of the National Security Act, Mainland Affairs Council officials said.
Ministry of the Interior officials said the ministry would ask the Constitutional Court to dissolve the Rehabilitation Alliance Party.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
Democratic nations should refrain from attending China’s upcoming large-scale military parade, which Beijing could use to sow discord among democracies, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) said. China is scheduled to stage the parade on Wednesday next week to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The event is expected to mobilize tens of thousands of participants and prominently showcase China’s military hardware. Speaking at a symposium in Taichung on Thursday, Shen said that Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) recently met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to New Delhi.
FINANCES: The KMT plan to halt pension cuts could bankrupt the pension fund years earlier, undermining intergenerational fairness, a Ministry of Civil Service report said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ proposal to amend the law to halt pension cuts for civil servants, teachers and military personnel could accelerate the depletion of the Public Service Pension Fund by four to five years, a Ministry of Civil Service report said. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Aug. 14 said that the Act Governing Civil Servants’ Retirement, Discharge and Pensions (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法) should be amended, adding that changes could begin as soon as after Saturday’s recall and referendum. In a written report to the Legislative Yuan, the ministry said that the fund already faces a severe imbalance between revenue