A couple from the air force was found guilty of espionage and handed jail sentences following a retrial at the High Court’s Kaohsiung branch yesterday.
Sun Wei (孫緯) and his wife, Liu Yun-ya (劉芸雅), were found guilty of four counts of contravening the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces, including passing classified military information to Chinese intelligence.
Sun and Liu were sentenced to 47 years and 57 years in prison respectively.
Photo: EPA
The ruling can be appealed.
The retrial came after the Supreme Court in June last year found their original sentences to be flawed.
Sun and his wife were initially given jail terms of 19 years and six months, and 20 years and six months respectively.
An investigation found that the couple was connected to a case involving retired air force colonel Liu Sheng-shu (劉聖恕), who operated a spy network.
Liu Sheng-shu had begun doing business in China after retiring in 2013, and was recruited by Chinese intelligence officers to become a spy and get active military officers to engage in espionage activities in exchange for money.
He recruited six officers, including Sun and his wife, and received payments of between NT$200,000 and NT$700,000 from China through a shell company he set up for each person he recruited.
Liu Sheng-shu was also given bonuses of between NT$30,000 and NT$100,000 when his handlers passed on classified information on the Taiwanese military.
Liu Sheng-shu and the six other officers were arrested and indicted by prosecutors in April 2023.
Following subsequent rulings and appeals, the Supreme Court in June last year upheld most of the defendants’ sentences, except for Sun and his wife. Their cases were sent back to the High Court for retrial.
The Control Yuan censured the Ministry of National Defense over its handling of the incident.
RESOLUTIONS DEBATE: Taiwan’s allies said that UN and WHA resolutions cited by China and other nations ‘do not determine Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities’ A proposal to invite Taiwan to this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) was rejected on Monday, resulting in Taipei’s absence from the annual meeting for a ninth consecutive year, although partners spoke up for Taiwan’s participation at the first day of the meeting. The first agenda item after the opening was a “two-on-two debate” on a proposal to invite Taiwan to participate at the WHA as an observer. Similar to previous years, two countries made statements in favor of the proposal, while two others expressed their opposition. Philippine Secretary of Health Teodoro Herbosa, president of the 78th WHA, accepted the WHA General Committee’s
Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr arrived in Taiwan last night to kick off his first visit to the country since beginning his second term earlier this year. After arriving at Taoyuan International Airport at around 6:30 pm, Whipps and his delegation were welcomed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). Speaking to gathered media, the Palauan leader said he was excited and honored to be back in Taiwan on his first state visit to Taiwan since he was sworn in this January. Among those traveling with Whipps is Minister of State Gustav N. Aitaro, Public Infrastructure
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) on Friday laid out the Cabinet’s updated policy agenda and recapped the government’s achievements ahead of the one-year anniversary of President William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration. Cho said the government had made progress across a range of areas, including rebuilding Hualien, cracking down on fraud, improving pedestrian safety and promoting economic growth. “I hope the public will not have the impression that the Cabinet only asked the legislature to reconsider a bunch of legal amendments,” Cho said, calling the moves “necessary” to protect constitutional governance and the public’s interest. The Cabinet would work toward achieving its “1+7” plan, he said. The
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) hosted a dinner in Taipei last night with key Taiwanese suppliers to celebrate the successful mass production of the company’s new Blackwell AI systems. Speaking to the media earlier yesterday, Huang thanked Nvidia’s Taiwanese partners for their contributions to the company’s ecosystem, while also sharing his plans to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀). In response to rumors that Nvidia will launch a downgraded Hopper H20 chip for China in July, Huang dismissed the reports, saying, “That is not true.” He clarified that there
RSS