The Taipei District Court yesterday approved a request by prosecutors to extend the detention of two former staffers of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suspected of engaging in espionage for China.
The two detainees, Chiu Shih-yuan (邱世元) and Huang Chu-jung (黃取榮), had been held in custody since mid-February after being summoned by Taipei District Prosecutors Office for questioning, with their detention period due to expire tomorrow.
Citing strong suspicion of serious crimes and concerns over potential collusion or destruction of evidence, prosecutors sought an extension of Chiu and Huang's detention. The court held a hearing yesterday afternoon and approved the request.
Photo: CNA
The two are to have their detention extended for another two months starting Sunday and remain being held incommunicado during the period.
Chiu, former deputy head of the DPP's Taiwan Institute of Democracy, and Huang, a former assistant to DPP New Taipei Councilor Lee Yu-tien (李余典), are among several individuals suspected of spying for Chinese intelligence services while working for senior officials in the DPP government, which has been in power since 2016.
Other suspects in the case include Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨), who worked as an adviser in the office of President William Lai (賴清德), and Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑), former assistant to the Secretary-General of the National Security Council Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) during his tenure as Taiwan's Foreign Minister.
According to the prosecutors, Huang was likely recruited by Beijing's intelligence services when doing business in China and after returning to Taiwan, started working with Ho, Wu Shang-yu and Chiu to gather confidential information about Lai and other top officials.
After providing such information to the Chinese intelligence services through Huang, Ho, Wu and Chiu received tens of thousands of Taiwan dollars in return, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors claimed the probe into the case was expanded after they traced money flows between Huang and the others in February. Huang, Wu and Chiu were detained in February following questioning, with Ho added to the list last week.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS