The Taipei District Court yesterday sentenced a diabolo instructor to 10-and-a-half years in prison for developing a Chinese-funded espionage organization in Taiwan, while his recruits and Chinese contact were also convicted of various charges.
Former diabolo champion Lu Chi-hsien (魯紀賢) was indicted in November 2023 along with Chinese national Tian Xi (田曦), five former military and coast guard officers he recruited, and three accessories to the development of the spy network, court documents showed.
The district court found Lu guilty of developing an organization for China, which contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法), and handed him a 10-and-a-half-year jail sentence.
Photo: Wang Meng-lun, Taipei Times
The three people Lu paid to run his operations were found guilty as accessories, and received sentences of 46 months, 44 months and three years in prison.
A retired army staff sergeant surnamed Lin (林) and her younger sister, a retired air force staff sergeant, were given prison sentences of six years, and six years and two months respectively for their involvement in the spy organization, the district court ruled.
A coast guard officer and a retired soldier formerly stationed at the Ministry of National Defense received four years and 10 months, while an army corporal surnamed Lee (李) was handed four years and four months, the district court said.
Lu was believed to have received more than NT$5.7 million (US$190,623) from Tian after he was recruited by Chinese intelligence personnel during a trip to China in 2020, the indictment said.
Lu paid three people to help run the spy operations, which had been based in Taipei’s Shilin District since 2022, and used their bank accounts to receive Chinese funding, prosecutors said.
Tian was sentenced to eight years in prison for fraud, money laundering and contravening the Banking Act (銀行法) after she was caught engaging in illegal foreign exchange maneuvering in 2020, they said.
The verdicts can be appealed.
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