Taiwan condemned former spying assistant for China

Taiwan’s court condemned a former spying president’s assistant for China and three others who were also hired by the ruling democratic progressive party (DPP).

One of the men worked in the service of the then Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, who is now the head of national security.

The court handed over the deadlines of men between four to 10 years for the expiration of state secrets. The decision stated that the espionage was made “for a very long period of time” and involved the sharing of “important diplomatic intelligence”.

Beijing claims that he democratically ruled Taiwan for his own, and they spy on each other for decades. But Taipei claims that Chinese espionage has intensified in recent years.

Of the four men sentenced to Thursday, Huang Chu-Jung, a former assistant to Taipei advisor, received the longest prison: 10 years. Initially, prosecutors asked for up to 18 years.

All four were charged in June, a month after they were expelled by DPP.

According to the court, Huang has instructed an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to receive information from WWTP, then a foreign minister. He then wrote reports using this information and sent it to the Chinese intelligence of the Communist Party using encrypted software.

An employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ho Jen-Chih was sentenced to eight years and two months in prison.

Huang was also accused of working with another former DPP employee, Chiu Shih-Youan, to gather more information. The court heard that Chiu received information from Wu Shangyu, who is an assistant to Lai Ching-T, the current president.

Wu served as Lai’s assistant when he was the vice president and then briefly after becoming president in 2024. Wu was accused of handing details about Lai’s routes during his travels.

Huang received nearly $ 5 million ($ 163,172; £ 122,203) from the Chinese government, the court said, while Chiu was paid more than NT $ 2 million.

“The information they spy on, collected, leaked and delivered, included an important diplomatic intelligence … which worsened our country’s difficult diplomatic situation,” the court said on Thursday.

These are just the most in a series of spying sentences, as Taiwan is intensifying his efforts to find supposed Chinese spies on his soil.

In 2024, Taiwan’s National Security Bureau said 64 people were persecuted for spying on China. This is a significant increase compared to previous years – between 2013 and 2019. There were 44 cases of espionage registered by the Ministry of Justice of Taiwan.

In recent years, the allegations of espionage have been leveled against several high -ranking Taiwan officials, including a former air colonel, which in 2023 was imprisoned for 20 years to manage a military spy ring for China.

Taiwan’s relationship with China has become the object of a deeply polarizing debate. On the one hand is the DPP of LAI, which is more prominent against China and is regarded as pro-independence, and on the other is the Kuomintang (KMT) party, which has always been more friendly in China and promotes more dialogue.

DPP accuses KMT of being used by Beijing to spin his influence – while critics of the ruling party and President Lai say he is falling into the opposition under the guise of targeting Pro -Chinese supporters.

This is played as China repeats its allegations over Taiwan by testing its naval and air protection with regular invasions.

President Lai often spoke against China as a danger to Taiwan, calling it “foreign hostile power.”

Beijing, for his part, has repeatedly criticized him, calling him “the destroyer of the peace of the crossing Strait.”