Washington — The Taiwan High Court on Thursday sentenced eight Taiwanese military officers to prison for spying for China in exchange for financial gain. Experts say the case shows a shift in China’s espionage tactics in Taiwan.
The sentences range from 18 months to 13 years in prison, making it one of Taiwan’s largest espionage cases in years.
The court said in a statement that the defendants were “willing to collect intelligence for China that caused the leak of important secrets” and that “they were seduced by money.”
An individual named Chen Yuxin was found to have contacted and recruited the defendants at key military sites to form a spy network for China. Chen was believed to have fled to China and remained there.
The defendants were also accused of planning to fly a CH-47 Chinook military helicopter to a Chinese aircraft carrier in the Taiwan Strait and of shooting a video indicating they would surrender to Beijing in the event of war, according to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency. Beijing used virtual currency to make payments to the defendants, according to Bloomberg.
Timothy Heath, a senior international defense researcher with the RAND Corporation, told VOA in an email, “The impact could have been severe if Taiwan’s authorities did not stop the espionage and defection of military assets like a helicopter in time.
“It is demoralizing to read of Taiwan soldiers voluntarily making videos that advertise their willingness to surrender to China,” he said.
Other cases of spying
The sentencing of the eight military officers is the latest in a growing number of espionage cases authorities say were carried out by China on the democratically ruled island.
Russell Hsiao, executive director of the Global Taiwan Institute and senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, said the sentences on Thursday reflect a shift in tactics by Chinese intelligence.
“This group of convicted agents involves relatively younger persons than in prior cases that have often targeted older retirees from the military,” he said in an email to VOA.
He said that while the older targets in previous cases were more driven by a mix of ideology reinforced by financial gains, “the motivation of these recent cases appears to be primarily financial.”
He also noted that while the sentences handed down by the court are arguably more severe than in prior cases, given the relatively limited value of the intelligence collected and passed on by these agents, this may be intended to send a deterrent signal to would-be spies.
China claims democratic Taiwan as its territory and has ramped up military and political pressure in the Taiwan Strait in recent years. The two sides have been spying on each other for decades.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said, “This is not a foreign policy issue, but a question concerning the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, which belong to the one and same China.”
Hsiao said there has been an upward trend in espionage cases involving Taiwan military personnel over the past decade.
Taiwan’s Control Yuan, the government’s oversight branch, confirmed this on Thursday. In a statement, it said that in recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of espionage-related cases uncovered by Taiwan’s military security units, and the targets and forms of infiltration are different from those in the past.
The Control Yuan statement said that from 2011 to 2023, there were 40 espionage cases, three times the number from 2001 to 2010. Those cases involved a total of 113 military and civilian personnel, and many “top secrets” were leaked.
“This certainly shows that Beijing is intent on penetrating Taiwan’s military and security services, so Taipei will have to stay vigilant against these efforts in the years ahead,” Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told VOA in an email.
A Taiwanese sergeant who worked at a navy training center was indicted last month for allegedly photographing and leaking confidential defense information to Beijing.
In June, the court upheld the sentences given to two retired Taiwanese Air Force officers for helping or attempting to help China recruit intelligence assets in Taiwan.
“The cases show that Chinese-directed subversion and espionage remain major threats to Taiwan,” Heath said. “The biggest impact is the continued erosion of the public’s trust and even U.S. trust in Taiwan’s government and military to control the threat of Chinese subversion and espionage.”
In its statement, the Control Yuan urged Taiwan’s government to increase its defense budget to help prevent China’s espionage activities.
Taiwan’s Cabinet announced Thursday that defense spending for 2025 would increase by 7.7% to $20.25 billion.
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