Taiwan needs to 'depoliticize' threats of emerging Chinese espionage

Washington, April 24 (CNA) As cases of Chinese espionage emerge, Taiwan must respond by "depoliticizing" the issue and recognize the fact that anyone could potentially become a spy for China, according to a U.S. analyst on Thursday.

There is a need to "recognize that anyone can be a victim. Anyone can make that choice. It doesn't matter where they come from," Peter Mattis, former counterintelligence analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, said during a seminar organized by the Global Taiwan Institute in Washington, D.C.

There were people who worked for the Kuomintang and national security organizations, while there were also individuals on the Democratic Progressive Party side who "have chosen to spy for some reason or another," Mattis said.

He went on to cite a recent case of alleged espionage involving a former assistant who worked for National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), during Wu's tenure as Taiwan's Foreign Minister from 2018 to 2024.

"This is why, to me, it is a tragedy that you have an aide to Wu Chao-hsieh [Joseph Wu], or that you have someone who worked in the Legislative Yuan for so long, who was spying for the CCP [Chinese Communist Party]," he said.

Citing Deng Xiaoping's (鄧小平) famous "black cat, white cat" quote, the former CIA analyst said: Whether it is "a blue spy, green spy, white spy, it doesn't matter what kind of spy, as long as it hurts Taiwan, it's a good spy."

He suggested that Taiwan handle the situation with great caution and work to establish some objective standards of behavior and security procedures that "allow people to have a clear set of expectations, what's acceptable, what's not, and also the rules to remove people from sensitive positions."

Besides the issue of espionage, Mattis raised concerns about the Chinese military's recent training at a firing range in Inner Mongolia that simulated the surroundings of Taiwan's Presidential Office in Taipei.

According to Mattis, the CCP has been placing a persistent focus on Taiwan's military police command and, therefore, presidential security.

"This, to me, is quite concerning, because there is an importance of a national leader, and this is a very clear and deliberate effort to make sure that they have real-time awareness of the president's security detail," he said.

The two-hour-long seminar titled "Enhancing US-Taiwan Cooperation in Countering the CCP's Ideological Work and Political Warfare" also saw other key speakers, including Mike Studeman, former Commander of the Office of Naval Intelligence and a retired rear admiral, and Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst at RAND.