The Taipei District Court on Wednesday turned down appeals to lift travel bans imposed on Hong Kong businessman Lam Yuk (林旭) and Chinese national Su Jianfeng (蘇劍鋒), who prosecutors said are suspected of working for the head of a Chinese spy ring in Taiwan.
Taipei prosecutors said that Lam and Su were working for Xiang Xin (向心) and his wife, Kung Ching (龔青), in a case related to self-confessed Chinese spy William Wang Liqiang (王立強), and all four were placed under travel restrictions as part of an ongoing investigation into the case.
Lam’s and Su’s lawyers said that as the two have no connections to Xiang and have not breached the National Security Act (國家安全法), the travel restrictions imposed on Feb. 11 should be lifted.
Prosecutors on Wednesday said that Lam is a Hong Kong resident who has entered and exited Taiwan numerous times, making him a flight risk.
Su is also a fight risk, they said, adding that the travel restrictions should remain in place.
Lam said that as a business owner and head of a business association in Hong Kong, his company would incur massive losses and he would lose his position in the association if he is unable to return to Hong Kong.
Su said he has several businesses in China, which have sustained losses because of his long absence.
The two reiterated that they had not engaged in any national security related matters in Taiwan.
Taiwanese authorities are still investigating the allegations by Wang, who in November last year defected and sought political asylum in Australia.
Wang said he worked for China Innovation Investment Ltd, of which Xiang is the executive director and Kung an acting director.
Wang told Australian media that the firm is a shell company “whose founding mission was to infiltrate Hong Kong, but was later tasked with influencing elections in Taiwan.”
He said that Xiang is in reality a Chinese spy who oversees espionage activities, intelligence gathering and other covert operations in Taiwan.
Following Wang’s assertions, Taiwanese authorities on Nov. 24 stopped Xiang and Kung ahead of their flight to Hong Kong and took them in for questioning.
They subsequently placed Lam and Su under investigation as well.
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