Republic of China Diabolo Federation board member Lu Chi-hsien (魯紀賢) was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison today for setting up an organization in Taiwan on behalf of China, with nine others also receiving sentences for their involvement.
Prosecutors charged Lu and nine others with receiving NT$5.7 million (US$195,293) from Chinese agents to obtain confidential information from active-duty and retired military personnel.
Lu went to China in 2020 to seek out opportunities for diabolo performances, where he was recruited by Chinese intelligence services, prosecutors said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
A Chinese national named Tian Xi (田曦) used underground remittances to funnel the money to Lu.
In 2022, Lu rented a home in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) as a base for the organization, later recruiting several retired military personnel to help him develop the spy ring through banquets and financial incentives, prosecutors said.
Lu successfully recruited seven active military members or their close contacts, although he tried but failed to recruit another 11, prosecutors said.
The active and retired officers who joined the group provided military documents like meeting reports and training documents, prosecutors said.
Three others involved not only provided bank accounts under their names for Lu to use to receive funds from China but also helped him develop the organization and were paid for it, prosecutors said.
One of those three is Kuo Po-ting (郭伯廷), younger brother of singer and actress Kuo Shu-yao (郭書瑤), who was sentenced to three years and 10 months.
Six people, including Lu were sentenced under the National Security Act (國家安全法) for forming an organization on behalf of China, three more were charged with assisting in efforts to form an organization, and Tian Xi sentenced for violating the Banking Act (銀行法).
In the first trial, the Taipei District Court sent the case to the High Court as it involved state secrets.
However, the High Court found that as prosecutors were focused on the charge of “developing an organization” on behalf of China and the classified material could be used in another case, it sent the case back to the district court.
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