Taiwan convicts ex-presidential aide of spying for China

The Taiwan Court has convicted a former presidential assistant to spy for China and three others who were also working by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

One of the men worked at the office of then, Joseph Wu, who is now the head of national security.

The court handed over the prison terms to men ranging from four to 10 years to leak the state’s secrets. The ruling said that spying was implemented “for a very long time of time” and included the participation of “important diplomatic intelligence”.

Beijing claims that Taiwan is owned by Democrats as a summary, and the two have been embodied on each other for decades. But Taipei claims that Chinese espionage has intensified in recent years.

Among the four men governed on Thursday, Huang Zhou Jong, a former assistant member of the Tipi Council, received the longest prison time: 10 years. Prosecutors initially sought judgments of up to 18 years.

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

According to the court, Huang issued instructions to an employee at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to obtain information from Wu, then the Foreign Minister. Then he wrote reports using this information, and sent it to the intelligence of the Chinese Communist Party using encrypted programs.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jin Chih, was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Huang was also accused of working with another EX-DPP employee, Chiu Shih-Yan to collect more information. The court heard that Chio had information from Wu Shangio, who was the Assistant Lay Cheng T., the current president.

Wu served as an assistant Lay when he was the vice president and then again for a short time after he became president in 2024. Wu was accused of passing details about Lay’s paths during his trips.

The court said that Huang received approximately $ 5 million ($ 16,3172; 122,203 pounds) from the Chinese government, while Cheo was paid more than $ 2 million.

The court said on Thursday: “The information that they spied, collected, leaked and delivered included an important diplomatic intelligence … which made the difficult diplomatic situation in our country worse.”

This is the latest in a series of spying convictions as Taiwan intensifies efforts to find alleged Chinese spies on its soil.

In 2024, the National Security Office in Taiwan said 64 people were tried for spying for China. This is a noticeable increase compared to previous years – between 2013 and 2019, there were 44 spy cases registered by the Ministry of Justice in Taiwan.

The allegations of espionage against many high -level Taiwan officials have been directed in recent years, including the colonel of the former force that was imprisoned in 2023 for a period of 20 years to manage a military spy loop for China.

Taiwan’s relationship with China has become the subject of a very accurate debate. On the one hand, there is DPP’s DPP, which is more explicit against China and is seen as a supporter of independence. On the other hand, there is the Kuomintang (KMT), which has always been more friendly with China, and encouraged more dialogue.

DPP is accused of KMT of its use by Beijing to collect its influence – while critics of the ruling party and President Lay say it is decreasing on the opposition under the guise of targeting “Pro -Cchina”.

This has been run as China has repeated its claims on Taiwan, as it tests its marine and air defenses with regular incursions.

President Lay often spoke against China as a threat to Taiwan, describing it as a “foreign hostile force”.

Beijing, in turn, has repeatedly criticized him, describing him as “devastating peace through the strait.”