Taiwan jails 8 soldiers for ‘spying’ for China

ISTANBUL

Eight soldiers, including both active-duty and retired personnel, have been sentenced to up to 13 years in prison by Taiwanese judicial authorities for spying on behalf of mainland China.

The sentences were issued by the Taiwan High Court, as reported by Focus Taiwan News on Friday.

The ruling came on Thursday following an investigation launched by the prosecutor's office in 2022, which revealed that retired military officer Chen Yu-hsin had been “recruited” by Beijing in 2021 to conduct espionage activities for China.

Eight of the 10 people implicated in the case were indicted last November. While Chen remains at large, one suspect was acquitted.

The court found that Chen had “used money to lure retired military officers,” who then “recruited active-duty military personnel to gather military secrets.”

Among those convicted was a lieutenant colonel serving with the Taoyuan-based Army Aviation and Special Forces Command's 601st Brigade, as well as two other soldiers who were found to have gathered state secrets and delivered them to Chen.

Additionally, the recruited soldiers had allegedly planned to produce a video announcing their “willingness to surrender to the People's Liberation Army in the event of a war,” according to court documents.

The convicted soldiers have the right to appeal the ruling.

The court’s decision comes just days after China claimed to have uncovered more than 1,000 cases of Taiwanese espionage in recent years.