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.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS