A Chinese Ministry of State Security statement that it has “uncovered thousands of Taiwanese spying cases” is nothing more than Beijing’s latest attempt to intimidate Taiwanese, an expert on China said yesterday.
The ministry yesterday wrote on Sina Weibo that it was “resolute in carrying out the holy mandate prescribed by the central party to defend against and crush and punish efforts of espionage and infiltration against the Chinese homeland.”
It said it has “uncovered thousands of Taiwanese spying cases,” disrupted a spy network that had been established in China and arrested “Taiwanese independence leaders” such as Yang Chih-yuan (楊智淵) and others.
Photo: Screen grab from the Chinese ministry of State Security’s Sina Weibo page
The ministry did not give details about the cases or when they had been uncovered.
Hung Chin-fu (洪敬富), a political science professor at National Cheng Kung University, said he questioned the validity of the claims, as the Chinese ministry in January wrote on Sina Weibo that “national defense institutes has uncovered hundreds of Taiwanese spying cases and disrupted spy networks established by Taiwanese intelligence units.”
China’s “inflation” of Taiwanese spying cases demonstrates that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is trying to portray itself as an administration under attack, within and from abroad, Hung said.
The CCP is also equating “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists” with national security risks, he added.
Beijing’s claims that “the [CCP’s] endeavors and major achievements over the past century provide the most solid foundation for strengthening our confidence in the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics” is undermined, as its actions show that it does not have confidence or feel secure, he said.
Yang is a civilian and in Taiwan is not even considered a “Taiwan independence leader,” Hung said, adding that Yang’s arrest is an attempt by China to intimidate Taiwan.
Separately, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) said Center for China and Globalization vice president Victor Gao’s (高志凱) recent comments during an al-Jazeera interview were preposterous and unworthy of comment.
Gao told broadcaster Mehdi Hasan that “after the reunification, everyone in Taiwan need to make a pledge whether they acknowledge there is only one China and Taiwan is part of China.”
Additional reporting by Huang Ching-hsuan
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
RSS