Three Taiwanese Accused of Developing Spy Network for China, Face National Security Charges

By Tsering Choephel

DHARAMSALA, 28 August: Taiwan’s Kaohsiung branch of the High Prosecutors’ Office on Monday charged three Taiwanese individuals with ‘developing a spy network to infiltrate the Taiwanese military,’ taipeitimes.com reported on Tuesday.

The accused—Wen Lung, who runs a business in China, and two retired Taiwanese military officers, Chu Shin-yu and Chiang Chiung-lin—reportedly admitted to having met with China’s United Front officials and other Chinese intelligence officers.

Wen, a recruit of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, allegedly invited the two retired officers on all-expenses-paid trips to China and introduced them to the United Front. Chu and Chiang “promised to use their personal connections and networks in Taiwan to recruit military personnel as spies and procure confidential materials to pass on to their Chinese handlers,” the prosecutors said, according to the report.

The trio have been charged under Article 2 of the National Security Act of Taiwan, which prohibits a person from working for China, Hong Kong, Macau, or foreign hostile forces to “fund, direct, or develop an organization,” according to the report. The act also prohibits “spying on or collecting confidential documents, messages, articles, or electromagnetic records that are for official use.”

Just last week, on 22 August, Taiwan’s High Court convicted eight current and retired military officers for developing a spy network for China. They were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 18 months to 13 years for contravening the National Security Act, as reported by taipeitimes.com on 23 August.

Taiwan’s Control Yuan, the government’s oversight branch, has raised concerns about the significant increase in Beijing’s espionage attacks on the island in recent years. The branch’s statement listed 40 espionage cases from 2011 to 2023, a threefold increase from 2001 to 2010.

Beijing’s claim of the democratically-ruled island as its own territory has been consistently rebuffed by the Taiwanese authorities, with increasing backing from its key ally, the US.