Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday.
China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month.
Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be spies, adding that the video aimed to “build a strong anti-espionage consciousness among the Chinese public, leaving spies nowhere to hide.”
Photo: Screen grab from China Central Television
Among cases highlighted in the video were the arrests of Cheng, US-based Chinese overseas community representative John Shing-Wan Leung (梁成運), former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian businessman Michael Spavor.
It said that Leung, who was mentioned in detail in the video, was recruited by the US as an informant.
The video also said that Leung worked in many overseas Chinese associations under the command of various US agencies and made many charitable donations to China, creating an image of being a “patriotic philanthropist.”
It said that Leung had obtained intelligence from Chinese institutions and personnel in the US through spying, surveillance and theft. Leung also arranged hotel rooms equipped with surveillance equipment for people visiting the US from China, and used sex acts to coerce and incite visiting Chinese personnel, it added.
Cheng, who was also discussed at length in the video, was arrested when he entered China in April 2019, it said. The video said that he had met with Taiwanese national security officials while he was a PhD student at Charles University in Prague, and gave them intelligence-related research reports.
The video also said that after returning to Taiwan from the Czech Republic, Cheng was recruited by the National Security Bureau to go to China to collect intelligence and identify Chinese officials who “could instigate a rebellion,” it said.
It also said that the political and economic research center in the Czech Republic which Cheng was director of was established Taiwan’s Military Intelligence Bureau at Cheng’s suggestion.
“The title of director allowed me to participate in more meetings of international organizations,” Cheng was shown saying in the video.
The ministry said Cheng used this title and his status as a professor at Charles University to participate in international conferences to collect information about the “views of relevant countries on major issues” related to China, adding that Cheng also used conferences as a means to establish contacts with Chinese scholars to obtain intelligence.
It said that Cheng had been paid NT$2.76 million (US$85,467) by the Taiwanese government for these services.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has previously denied China’s claims about Cheng, saying in October 2020 that he is not a professor at Charles University. Cho at the time also said that he did not know Cheng, and that claims of Cheng being his assistant were untrue.
While the Mainland Affairs Council yesterday did not comment on the video released by China, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said China’s claims about Cho in the video were aimed at sowing distrust in Lai’s government ahead of his inauguration.
Beijing was also attempting to scare Taiwanese academics and the Democratic Progressive Party government by dredging up old espionage cases, he said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS