Former lawmaker Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) and retired rear admiral Hsia Fu-hsiang (夏復翔) have been indicted on espionage charges for allegedly developing a spy network for China and inviting military retirees to meet Chinese government officials.
Kaohsiung prosecutors announced the indictment yesterday, citing evidence and witness testimony that Lo — a former legislator for the Taiwan Solidarity Union — and retired naval rear admiral Hsia began their efforts in 2013 after being recruited by the Chinese military and United Front Work Department.
Lo and Hsia were charged for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) on evidence of inviting and accompanying several retired military officers, 48 ranked as generals or major generals, on 13 trips to China from 2013 to 2019, Kaohsiung deputy head prosecutor Hsu Hung-ju (徐弘儒) said.
Photo: CNA
Many were lured by financial incentives and passed confidential material to China, among other espionage activities, while Lo and Hsia built spy networks, Hsu said.
Lo and Hsia allegedly led the trips to events organized by Beijing, including a gathering for alumni of the Whampoa Military Academy, the Zhuhai International Airshow and golf competitions.
The trips were paid for by Beijing, and Taiwanese military personnel were treated like VIPs while attending banquets and conferences, Hsu said.
Lo befriended Hsia while playing golf together, and through Lo’s business connections, he became acquainted with Li Ying (李鷹), a Chinese biotechnology firm chairman who had extensive ties with the Chinese military, investigators said.
As deputy head of the navy’s Political Warfare Section, Hsia attended events in China and was introduced to former Chinese United Front Work Department section heads Hao Yifong (郝一峰) and Fang Xinsheng (方新生), Hsu said.
Through these connections, Lo and Hsia were recruited and paid to bring retired generals and other officers to junket trips to China, where they were likely influenced by Beijing officials and convinced to conduct espionage, Hsu said.
Separately, Kaohsiung City Councilor Chang Po-yang (張博洋) of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party accused the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and other ministries of neglecting to draft laws to prevent elected officials from attending political meetings in an enemy state.
Chang said he was referring to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians visiting China to attend Whampoa Military Academy anniversary functions, along with other junket trips to China.
Most recently, KMT Taoyuan City Council Speaker Chiu Yi-sheng (邱奕勝) led a 24-member delegation of city councilors and their spouses to Shanghai, and met United Front Work Office Shanghai chairman Chen Tong (陳通) on Tuesday, Chang said.
There was also a trip to Beijing last month led by Kaohsiung borough warden Liu Chi-fang (劉啟芳), also of the KMT, in which a 52-member group comprised of other wardens and community organization directors attended a conference chaired by China’s top Taiwan Affairs Office official, Song Tao (宋濤), Chang said.
He criticized MAC for saying that Taiwan has no law banning officials from such engagement with China, saying that lack of such a law allowed officials to meet with officials of an enemy state.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by