A Changhua County businessman was on Thursday sentenced to a three-month prison term for contravening the National Securities Act (國家安全法).
The Taipei District Court said that Fu-Mei Scissors and Tools Manufacturing Co chairman Huang Chiung-tun (黃炯墩) was recruited by Chinese intelligence officers after he in 2000 established a factory in the country.
The sentence can be commuted to a NT$90,000 fine.
The court filing showed that Huang was recruited to gather information on Falun Gong and the Democratic Progressive Party members, and military installations in Taiwan.
Huang in 2000 moved to Ningbo, China, where he made efforts to befriend local government officials in the hope of advancing his business, the court filing showed.
Among the officials was Huang Weihua (黃偉華), a section chief in the Chinese Ministry of State Security’s regional office, who proposed that Huang Chiung-tun work for Chinese intelligence in exchange for a tax credit of 35,000 yuan (US$5,357 at the current exchange rate), it showed.
Huang Chiung-tun was later recruited for specific operations in Taiwan, the filing showed.
Huang Chiung-tun in the following years made several trips to Taiwan, where he tried to befriend military personnel, as well as police and national security officers, to gather information and persuade them to make trips to China, the filing showed.
Among those he befriended in Taiwan were a National Security Bureau officer surnamed Lee (李), a local Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) official, surnamed Yen (閻), a retired Air Force Academy official and an official at the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau who later held positions in the Legislative Yuan, the filing showed.
The authorities were tipped off on the spying activities, after Lee refused the offer to visit China on an all-expenses-paid trip, it showed.
Investigators from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office found that several people involved had been traveling to Ningbo, where they had met with Huang Weihua, who solicited them to work for Chinese intelligence, the filing showed.
Those questioned by investigators said that they refused those offers, it showed.
Huang Chiung-tun’s spying activities did not leak any significant information to China, and he did not recruit any other Taiwanese to work for China, the court said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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