The New Taipei City District Court yesterday ordered the detention of a Taiwanese businessman accused of attempting to recruit judicial and government officials to develop a spy network for China in Taiwan.
The suspect, Hung Chin-hsi (洪金錫), has been charged with violating the National Security Act (國家安全法) and detained with limited communication to prevent him from fleeing the country, prosecutors said.
New Taipei City authorities received a tip-off and Hung was placed under surveillance for more than a year, prosecutor Liu Wen-han (劉文瀚) said.
Photo: Chen Wei-tzu, Taipei Times
Hung was arrested in the city’s Tucheng District (土城) on Wednesday, Liu said.
A native of Macau, Hung came to work in Taiwan in the 1980s and later obtained Republic of China citizenship.
Hung returned to Macau in 2015 and set up business, which frequently involved traveling to Hong Kong and mainland China, where he is suspected to have been recruited by Chinese intelligence officials, Liu said.
A preliminary investigation showed that Chinese officials used money, along with favorable terms for doing business in China and other incentives, to lure Hung into working for them.
Hung was allegedly given the task of developing a spy network in Taiwan and recruiting influential Taiwanese to work for the Chinese government.
Hung allegedly tried to recruit a longtime friend, who is an officer at the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau (MJIB).
Starting in 2016, Hung allegedly invited the MJIB officer several times to visit China, offering the latter large sums of money and promising to introduce him to Chinese officials.
The MJIB officer reported the matter to his superiors, who launched an investigation.
The officer pretended to cooperate with Hung, accepting some valuable gifts, including gold coins, while recording conversations with Hung to gather evidence.
An investigator said it was worrying how Hung was instructed by his Chinese handlers to focus on “secondary targets,” which include university professors, journalists, media pundits and religious leaders, and recruit them to espouse pro-China unification talks and undermine the Taiwanese government’s position in the public discourse.
TECH PROGRAM: A US official said that an important part of the delegation’s trip would be to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co executives The US is to send officials in charge of chip development to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to promote cooperation in the global semiconductor supply chain, the US Department of Commerce said on Tuesday. Chips Program Office Director Michael Schmidt announced the visit, which marks the first time officials from the office are to visit the three nations since it was set up in September last year. “As semiconductors and technologies continue to evolve, the United States will keep working with allies and partners to develop coordinated strategies to ensure that malign actors cannot use the latest technologies to undermine our collective
Seven senior faculty members, including the principal, of a high school in Taichung were temporarily suspended from their jobs on Friday, pending an investigation by the Taichung Education Bureau into alleged bullying and abuse that led to the suicide of a student last month. The city’s education officials were too slow to suspend those involved, the student’s father told a news conference on Wednesday, at which Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and members of the Humanistic Education Foundation were also present. The boy had been a good student and a high achiever during elementary and junior-high, and had
Taiwan does not exclude the possibility of having formal diplomatic relations with counties that also have formal ties with China, regardless of Beijing’s stance, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Sunday. There was speculation in 2012 that Honduras was attempting to have simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taiwan and China, an idea that then-minister of foreign affairs David Lin (林永樂) rejected. Honduras severed formal ties with Taiwan on Sunday morning after establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing. President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has taken a more practical approach to relations with like-minded countries since assuming government in 2016. Previous administrations took the
ORIGIN UNKNOWN: The Leofoo Village Theme Park and Taipei Zoo have accounted for their baboons, as authorities continue a 12-day capture attempt Authorities in Taoyuan are searching for a non-native baboon, possibly of the chacma species, that has been spotted several times in the city’s Pingjhen District (平鎮) over the past 12 days, and was most recently seen in coastal Sinwu District (新屋). The baboon was first spotted near a local factory on March 10 in central Taoyuan, Jhensing Borough Warden Huang Chih-chieh (黃志杰) said. Huang said he requested the Leofoo Village Theme Park’s help after a second sighting on Saturday. In other sightings, the baboon raided fruit and vegetable gardens on private property, and has evaded one capture attempt via a tranquilizer dart. Media reported