10 indicted in China espionage case

Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) The Taiwan High Prosecutors Office on Thursday indicted 10 people, including the head of a temple in New Taipei, for allegedly spying for China.

Extensive searches were conducted from June to September this year, when authorities began investigating members of a Luzhou District temple suspected of having been recruited by China to run espionage activities for Beijing, according to a press release issued by the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office.

The main suspect was later identified as a woman surnamed Lee (李), the temple's chairperson who also has ties to a criminal gang in Taiwan, the office said.

Lee allegedly used her connections in the criminal and religious world to identify retired and active military personnel who were religious worshippers with financial difficulties and sought to persuade them to collect intelligence for China in exchange for a monetary reward, prosecutors said.

The recruits for the spy ring had to hand over a copy of their national identification card and were required to take videos in military uniform holding a Chinese flag and promising to surrender in the event of war, they said.

Lee then asked them to pass on sensitive military information, and promised even more money if they recruited others to the group.

Based on the evidence collected, prosecutors said of the nine suspects, three active military personnel surnamed Lin (林), Chen (陳) and Liu (劉) were found to have passed on confidential military information to China in exchange for financial gain.

Meanwhile, the others were rewarded for posing in the videos.

As active and retired military personnel, the suspects all failed to honor their loyalty to the country, prosecutors said.

According to the news release, the suspects were indicted on charges of breaking the National Security Act, the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces, the Classified National Security Information Protection Act and the Anti-Corruption Act.