Taiwan jails six ex-soldiers over spying for China

A Taiwanese court on Wednesday handed jail terms ranging from four-and-a-half to eight-and-a-half years to six former service members for spying for China. China claims democratic self-ruled Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to annex it. While Taipei and Beijing have spied on each other for decades, experts warn that the threat to Taiwan is more serious given the risk of a Chinese attack.

Five of the defendants were found guilty of violating the National Security Act for “developing an organisation” for Beijing, while one was convicted of leaking confidential military information under the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces, the High Court said. The five, including one on active duty at the time of the offence, were recruited by a Hong Kong resident from China surnamed Ding, the court said in a statement. They were aware Ding was a “proxy” for Beijing but “developed an organisation for Ding for the purpose of collecting, leaking, delivering, or transmitting classified information relating to military, defence, or official duties”, it said.

The sixth defendant surnamed Yang, also an active serviceman at the time, accessed a colleague’s military computer and uploaded materials via a cloud drive to collect and leak sensitive information. Yang was also convicted of leaking sensitive information relating to his unit and projects he was responsible for to his sister, a co-defendant in the case. The defendants “were thoroughly aware of the potentially grave harm to national security” that could result from their crimes, the court said. Ding and others were charged last November, though he passed away before the sentencing, according to the statement.