Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) on Tuesday said that he was deeply saddened that some military personnel were recruited by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to gather intelligence and shoot propaganda films for it as he vowed to improve Taiwan’s counterintelligence capabilities.
Koo made the remarks after Chinese-language media reported the same day that of eight military personnel who were sentenced to prison in February for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), seven were on active duty.
The seven were three soldiers serving in the Shilin Military Police Station in Taipei, three members of the navy and a presidential guard, the media reports said.
Photo: Fang Wei-li, Taipei Times
Prosecutors found that that they were recruited by Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨), a 31-year-old gang member of the Sun Alliance, and a retired officer surnamed Peng (彭) to shoot videos at their respective military units while holding Chinese flags and pledging allegiance to Beijing.
Some of them were charged with divulging confidential information to the CCP.
The case was launched following reports from military personnel, which showed that the military’s confidential and espionage education has proven effective in deterring such activities, Koo said, adding that 87 percent of espionage cases were exposed through tips received within the military.
“We would continue to bolster our counterintelligence capabilities as well as the ability to identify espionage activities within the military,” he said.
The Executive Yuan is reviewing the Ministry of National Defense’s proposed amendment to Article 24 of the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍刑法), which would impose heavier penalties on military personnel pledging allegiance to the enemy, Koo added.
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