Ex-general indicted for planning armed overthrow of government

Taipei, Jan. 22 (CNA) The Taiwan High Prosecutors Office said Wednesday that a former Taiwanese general and five others have been indicted for allegedly accepting funds from the Chinese Communist Party to assist in overthrowing Taiwan's government.

In a news release, the office said that retired Army Major General Kao An-kuo (高安國) formed a pro-unification group called the "Republic of China Taiwan Military Government" that planned to act as armed collaborators in the event of an invasion by China.

The group received funds of around NT$9.62 million (US$293,900) from China, which they sought to use to establish armed units and operational bases in Taiwan to facilitate the government's overthrow, the prosecutors said.

Kao was indicted on Monday for violating Articles 2 and 7 of Taiwan's National Security Act alongside his girlfriend Liu (劉), two retired soldiers named Chang (張) and Chiu (邱), and two other men named Chen (陳) and Hou (侯).

The prosecutors have already been authorized to detain incommunicado the six suspects.

The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) first received a report about Kao's activities in 2020.

Thereafter, a national security team comprising personnel from the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, the MJIB, the Criminal Investigation Bureau, and the Ministry of National Defense was formed to investigate the group.

Investigators launched two waves of searches in November 2024, in which 26 locations were raided and 47 people were questioned.

According to the prosecutor's news release, Hou is suspected of directing Chang, Chen and Chiu to recruit active military personnel and gather intelligence on Taiwan's military infrastructure and deployments.

Between 2017 and 2024, the suspects went to China on "multiple occasions" and received "instructions and funding" from "Chinese Communist Party military intelligence personnel," the prosecutors said.

Hou and Chen are also formally accused of using drones to simulate the tracking of military radar vehicles in September 2024, and reporting the results to the Chinese authorities.

"Kao An-kuo was a high-ranking general in Taiwan's Army. He was trained and entrusted with important tasks by the nation for a long time," the High Prosecutors Office said in the news release.

"He should have had strong loyalty to the nation, but for personal gain, he failed to strictly uphold protocol," the prosecutors said.

The High Prosecutors Office has urged the court to impose "heavy" minimum sentences of 10 years for Kao, eight years for Liu, eight years for Chang, six years for Hou, four and a half years for Chen, and three years and five months for Chiu.