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Suspected of Being a Chinese Spy, Taiwan Detains Retired Admiral. PHOTOS/Reuters
TAIPEI – A retired rear admiral Taiwan and a former lawmaker has been detained for allegedly violating the island’s national security law, a court said Thursday (19/1/2023). This is the latest spy scandal to hit Taiwan’s military elite.
“Hsia Fu-hsiang, who served as Deputy Chief of the Political Warfare Department of the Navy and former lawmaker Lo Chih-ming was deemed at risk of escape and was detained on Thursday,” said the District Court in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, as quoted by AFP.
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China claims self-ruled and democratic Taiwan as part of its territory to seize one day, by force if necessary. Both sides have spied on each other since the Nationalists fled to the island to set up a rival government in 1949.
On Thursday, a court reversed a decision allowing bail earlier this month. The court also cited the risk that the two could collude with witnesses.
“The defendants arranged for the witness to go to mainland China and (the trip) was most likely related to promoting unification” with China, the court statement continued, without providing further details about the investigation.
According to Taiwan’s semi-official Central News Agency, Lo allegedly recruited Hsia and the pair used their connections to arrange for retired military officers to visit China as part of efforts to develop a spy network in Taiwan.
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Their case comes shortly after prosecutors launched an investigation into a retired Air Force colonel who allegedly recruited at least six active-duty Air Force and Navy officers for Beijing in eight years.
There have been a number of cases involving former top Taiwanese military officials who have been accused of developing spy networks for China in recent years.
A retired major general in the Air Force received a four-year suspended sentence earlier this month for accepting food and travel offered by a Hong Kong businessman allegedly acting on behalf of Beijing, after a court said he had shown remorse and had no previous criminal record.
(esn)
