The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday appealed the acquittals of New Party member Wang Ping-chung (王炳忠), Wang’s father, two fellow party members and a Chinese student, Zhou Hongxu (周泓旭), on espionage charges.
The prosecutors’ petition said that the Taipei District Court’s decision last month “granted leniency in the face of serious offenses” and gave national security less protection than victims of petty theft.
Wang, his father, Wang Chin-pu (王進步), New Party Taipei City Councilor Ho Han-ting (侯漢廷), New Party executive Lin Ming-cheng (林明正) and Zhou were indicted in June 2018 over alleged breaches of the National Security Act (國家安全法) after they were accused of receiving funding from office units controlled by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, money that prosecutors had said the group used to set up propaganda Web sites.
In 2017, Zhou was convicted of spying for China.
“The investigation found that Zhou carried out his tasks in a methodical manner, starting with friendly talks and later stepping up the persuasion. Through indirect and covert activities, Zhou infiltrated political and military circles. Working discreetly and keeping a low profile, Zhou concealed his intention, while befriending targeted people for espionage activities,” the petition said yesterday.
The prosecutors found the court’s first ruling “absurd,” they said, adding that the judges were unreasonable to acquit Zhou and the other defendants due to a lack of evidence that they “worked on behalf of China to develop the networks” and because “the interactions were normal activities between friends.”
Granting leniency for such an obvious breach of national security would only lead China to conduct further covert action, the prosecutors said.
The petition presented phrases from files Zhou had stored, including “doing the utmost to conceal these secret activities,” “targeting Chinese unification organizations in Taiwan for collaboration,” “taking up [Chinese] military training for infiltration work” and “assessing potential targets for further development within our network.”
The court’s decision to acquit would open the door for China and any enemy state to continue infiltrating and forming spy networks, prosecutors said.
National security cases are difficult to investigate, as it takes considerable time and resources to catch spies, they added.
“We are the last barrier protecting our nation,” the prosecutors said.
“If courts cannot be counted on to impose appropriate punishments, the aftermath will embolden more espionage activity, placing our nation and citizens in grave danger,” they added.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
RSS