Four former employees of Taiwan’s ruling political party have been convicted of spying for China and handed prison sentences of up to 10 years.
The four include a former aide to Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, when he was vice-president and for a time during his current presidency, and a senior staffer to Joseph Wu, then foreign minister and now the national security chief.
The aides worked for the Democratic Progressive party (DPP), Taiwan’s ruling party. Huang Chu-jung, a former assistant to a New Taipei city councillor, received the lengthiest sentence of 10 years. He was also found guilty of money laundering and fined 1m New Taiwan dollars (£25,000) and is separately facing charges of “developing a criminal organisation” for China.
The court heard that Huang had sent information to Chinese intelligence agents via encrypted software. He also instructed Chiu Shih-yuan, the former deputy head of the DPP’s Taiwan Institute of Democracy, a training school for politicians and staffers, to seek information from Joseph Wu, the former foreign minister and presidential adviser. Chiu was sentenced to six years and two months behind bars. Huang denied wrongdoing while Chiu pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors had sought lengthier sentences for the four men and are considering whether to appeal.
Taiwan, a self-governing island that is claimed by Beijing, is highly alert to threats from Chinese espionage. Lai has taken a more aggressive approach than his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, to people with perceived pro-China sympathies. In March he labelled China as a “foreign hostile force” and strengthened national security measures, including controversial proposals to restore a military court system.
In recent months Taiwan has cracked down on people who illegally hold Chinese identity documents.
Lai says that such measures, which have been criticised for muffling free expression, are necessary to combat “grey zone” infiltrations of Taiwan’s military, government and society.
Taiwan has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist party (CCP) but Beijing insists that it is part of its territory. It has vowed to “re-unify” Taiwan with China and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve that.
However, Beijing is also thought to be using cognitive warfare tactics, as well as espionage and disinformation campaigns, to soften Taiwanese resistance to Chinese rule. Some voices in China say that this could make it possible to bring Taiwan under Chinese rule without military conflict.
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