China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan.
The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today.
Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about 80 percent from 1,703 times in 2023, it said.
On March 17, the PLA conducted two combat readiness patrols in a single day for the first time, it said.
It also launched military exercises on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, amplifying pressure against Taiwan, it said.
The bureau added that Beijing is diversifying its “gray zone” tactics, including expanding the use of drones to conduct surveillance around Taiwan.
As of March 21, the China Coast Guard had conducted 11 patrols in the waters around Kinmen County, compared with 52 throughout last year, it said.
Other Chinese ships have lingered in the waters to the north and southwest of Taiwan, which are suspected of damaging undersea communication cables, it said.
China has also increased its use of weather balloons, releasing 76 so far this year as of March 19, compared with 147 last year, it said.
The balloons force Taiwan to dispatch monitoring forces, taking up response resources and undermining external communication resilience, it said.
Intensified US containment of China across various domains presents both challenges and opportunities for Taiwan’s intelligence operations, it said.
The NSB would expand communication and intelligence cooperation with international partners, and enhance its strategic analysis skills to strengthen Taiwan’s defense against China, it said.
The bureau added that 159 people suspected of spying for China have been indicted since 2020, 60 percent of whom are active-duty or retired military personnel.
Tactics employed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to turn Taiwanese military personnel into spies include targeting retired personnel and using them to approach active members, recruiting them through the Internet, enticing them with monetary rewards and targeting indebted service members, the bureau said.
The CCP has been collaborating with criminal gangs, shell companies, moneylenders, temples and civic groups to approach entry-level military personnel who have financial problems, showing that it does not only target ranking officers, it said.
Of the 95 active-duty and retired military personnel indicted, 46 were commissioned officers, 27 were non-commissioned officers and 22 were soldiers, showing that the CCP has infiltrated all levels of the military, it said.
The NSB said that it would work more closely with other national security agencies in investigating Chinese infiltration tactics and safeguarding against potential national security risks.
It vowed to strengthen the collaboration between investigators, prosecutors, intelligence workers and military intelligence officers to facilitate investigations into cases related to national security.
Separately, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said that one measure to improve intelligence security in the military is running tighter personnel background checks before people are granted access to classified intelligence.
“Spies for the CCP are indeed everywhere, and they will exhaust all options to get intelligence,” Koo told reporters before a legislative meeting.
Stressing that the armed forces routinely educate service members about countering espionage, Koo said that 87 percent of espionage cases involving military personnel were reported by active-duty service members.
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