A former Executive Yuan official and another man were indicted yesterday for their alleged involvement in a 2021 espionage case.
Cheng Ming-chia (鄭明嘉) is suspected of recruiting retired Executive Yuan official Hu Peng-nian (胡鵬年) to help enlist active-duty and retired military personnel, and target young people engaged in politics across party lines, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said yesterday in a statement.
The two were indicted yesterday by the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office under the National Security Act (國家安全法).
Photo: CNA
Prosecutors said they are seeking a sentence of at least 10 years in prison for Cheng.
Hu was allegedly instructed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to recruit active and retired military personnel, to collect military secrets and target young members of political parties who had recently entered politics. This was done with the aim of obtaining internal communications and classified information from parties, government agencies and representative bodies at all levels, the statement said.
The focus on young political workers showed a shift in the tactics of the CCP, which traditionally focused on recruiting people who had access to military secrets, particularly active-duty and retired military personnel, the bureau said.
It appears the CCP now hopes to embed recruited operatives within Taiwan’s parties, government agencies and representative institutions to probe for and collect sensitive information of a political nature, it said.
Cheng traveled to Guangzhou in 2008 to start a business, according to a separate statement from the Taiwan High Prosecutors ‘Office. In 2016, he was appointed president of the “Guangzhou Taiwan Youth Home” (廣州台灣青年之家), an organization affiliated with China’s United Front Work Department, and as deputy director of the youth division of the “Guangdong Overseas Friendship Association” (廣東海外聯誼會).
He was appointed by the CCP as a non-voting member of the Guangzhou Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
In 2021, Cheng allegedly recruited Hu, a former section chief at the Executive Yuan who had retired and gone to China to take up a teaching post, the statement said. Cheng allegedly exploited Hu’s desire to preserve his teaching position in China, arranging for Hu to meet with a CCP United Front official surnamed Chen (陳), who served on the CCP Central Committee’s Taiwan Affairs Working Group.
Chen tasked Hu with recruiting Taiwanese political figures as well as active-duty and retired military personnel to monitor developments within government agencies and among political figures.
Prosecutors said Cheng and Hu repeatedly returned to Taiwan to recruit others, including neighborhood wardens, retired government officials and contractors for the Ministry of National Defense.
Those approached were then allegedly asked to travel to China to meet Chen, who would verify their identities and assign tasks.
Although most of those contacted refused and the recruitment efforts largely failed, the attempts nevertheless posed a serious threat to Taiwan’s national security, prosecutors said.
The office said Cheng and Hu were detained and held incommunicado following a ruling against them by the High Court in September last year and remain in custody.
In light of Cheng’s prior related convictions, prosecutors urged the court to impose a heavier sentence of no less than 10 years’ imprisonment, the office said.
Hu has confessed to offenses, shown a cooperative attitude and expressed remorse, and his conviction should reflect that, it said.
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