Xi’s fifth columnists exposed as Taiwan detains spies

Presidential aides and military officers are among 159 people in Taiwan charged with spying for Beijing, sending tremors through an island already under intense military pressure from China.

An aide to Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te was one of the alleged ‘spies’. Picture: AFP.

One worked for the president, another for the foreign minister. They included ordinary soldiers, military officers and at least one former general.

They are Taiwan’s fifth column of Chinese spies, and they are sending tremors through an island already under intense military pressure from its increasingly aggressive neighbour.

President Lai of Taiwan has ordered that officials of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) declare in advance any travel to mainland China after a series of arrests of members of his party added to fears the island’s armed forces, government and political circles were riddled with spies.

According to a report by Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, 159 people have been charged with spying for China since 2020. Six out of ten were present or former members of the armed forces, including 43 officers.

The report says that Chinese intelligence use criminal gangs, fake companies, loan sharks, Buddhist temples and civic organisations to target soldiers from all ranks with financial problems, and bribe or blackmail them to share secrets. Equally alarming has been the exposure of an apparent espionage ring within Lai’s ruling party.

It began with the arrest in February of two DPP members. One was Huang Chu-jung, an assistant to one of the party’s city councillors, who is accused of having been recruited by China while visiting the country on business. Huang allegedly recruited other party members, including Chiu Shih-yuan, who worked for a government-linked think tank, and Wu Shang-yu, who served as an adviser to Lai. Prosecutors say Wu passed on secret information about the president’s travel plans, which were given to China by Huang. Also arrested this month was Ho Jen-chieh, an assistant to the foreign minister at the time, Joseph Wu, who is now head of the National Security Council.

All have been expelled from the DPP but the embarrassment is acute. The DPP branch in Yilan county, where Ho was registered as a member, said: “His alleged actions have severely damaged the party’s reputation. Espionage is utterly incompatible with the party’s core values.”

The DPP, which won the presidency in 2016, represents the growing number of Taiwanese who regard their self-ruling island as a de facto state, and who reject the longstanding claim by mainland China to sovereignty over it.

While most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as independent, Washington opposes unilateral changes to the cross-strait status quo by force and is committed to supplying arms for the island’s defence. Ships and planes of the mainland’s People’s Liberation Army routinely conduct menacing manoeuvres in the skies and waters of the Taiwan Strait. Cyberwarriors operate an underground campaign of propaganda and manipulation aimed at denigrating the DPP, and promoting China, in the hope of influencing Taiwanese public opinion.

The spy scandals have been seized on by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, which historically has favoured closer relations with China.

Yang Chih-yu, the KMT spokeswoman, said: “It’s not just the legislature – even the presidential office, foreign ministry and National Security Council have been compromised.”

The espionage seems to indicate shortcomings in Taiwan’s system of security screenings for sensitive jobs. In some government organisations, the loyalty of candidates is scrutinised only when they begin, but is not subsequently reviewed.

There are also complaints that penalties for espionage are too lenient. In February, a lieutenant colonel in the army was found guilty of plotting to steal a helicopter and land it on a Chinese naval ship for a bounty of dollars 15 million. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.

The Times