Anyone who has worked with a foreign enemy against Taiwan should receive the most severe punishment the state can mete out, the Presidential Office said yesterday, following a report that a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) staffer’s cellphone contained a Chinese spying app.
The government urgently needs to implement more stringent national security laws and bolster national resilience in light of the Chinese threat against Taiwan, which includes infiltration of the nation and the use of “united front” tactics, it added.
The statement follows a report yesterday by the Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine that prosecutors found a specially developed app used to communicate with Chinese intelligence operatives on the cellphone of former DPP staffer Huang Chu-jung (黃取榮).
Photo: Taipei Times and courtesy of readers
Huang is one of four people, along with former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨), former DPP staffer Chiu Shih-yuan (邱世元) and former foreign ministry assistant Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑), suspected of spying for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while working for the government. All four are being detained without visitation rights.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office declined to comment on the report as the case is under investigation.
Mirror Media said that investigators had not previously encountered the app, which they were unable to decrypt, but have determined what information was sent through it.
Huang allegedly used the app to transfer information about President William Lai’s (賴清德) itinerary during his presidential campaign in 2023 and information about Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), among other data, it said.
Huang, a former assistant to New Taipei City Councilor Lee Yu-tien (李余典), was allegedly recruited by Chinese intelligence while conducting business in China years ago, and, upon his return to Taiwan, leveraged his knowledge of and connections within the DPP to establish an organization through which he allegedly provided information to the Chinese, prosecutors said.
Wu is suspected of leaking Lai’s itinerary to Chiu, who then gave the information to Huang, they said.
Ho, a former assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), gathered information about the ministry and provided that information to Huang, the Mirror Media report said.
DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) said the party has stepped up measures to prevent future incidents, including requiring DPP officials to notify the party before they leave the country and to report afterward, increasing officials’ understanding of national security and conducting background checks of all new party members.
Separately, the Mainland Affairs Council said that the CCP has multiple channels to attract and absorb Taiwanese, which are not limited to the Guangzhou-based Jinan University, where Huang studied.
The university, alongside Huaqiao University and Beijing Chinese Language and Culture College, is affiliated with the CCP’s United Front Work Department, and Taiwanese universities are forbidden to interact further with them as of Feb. 20, the council said.
Additional reporting by Chen Cheng-yu and Chen Yu-fu
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS