Political party head, ex-military officers indicted in China espionage case

Taichung, Jan. 8 (CNA) Taichung prosecutors on Wednesday announced the indictment of seven suspects, including the head of a small political party, for allegedly receiving money to photograph and pass along the GPS coordinates of Taiwanese military installations to contacts in China.

In a press release, the Taichung District Prosecutors Office said it indicted the chief suspect, Fukang Alliance Party Chairman Chu Hung-yi (屈宏義), and six retired military officers in August under the Anti-Infiltration Act and National Security Act.

The case is currently being heard by the Taichung branch of the Taiwan High Court, which has jurisdiction over espionage cases, with Chu in detention and the other six suspects prohibited from leaving the country, the statement said.

The case stems from a 2022 investigation into Miaoli County Council candidate Huang Kuei-kun (黃桂坤), and later expanded when Huang joined the newly-formed Fukang Alliance Party the following year.

Prosecutors said Chu, the party's 62-year-old chairman, had served as a senior officer in Taiwan's Army and spent years doing business in China after he retired.

While in China, Chu had contact with intelligence officers, and agreed to accept Chinese funding in order to recruit other retired military officers and develop a political organization, prosecutors said.

After founding the party in 2023, Chu recruited four unsuspecting candidates, including veteran actor Liu Shang-chien (劉尚謙), to run for the Legislature in Taiwan's January 2024 election.

After estimating their campaign costs, Chu sent a funding request to a contact in China, and later received NT$2 million (US$60,822) in money transfers on WeChat, as well as 150,000 Chinese yuan via "underground" money transfers, prosecutors alleged.

None of the party's candidates were elected.

Meanwhile, Chu also instructed his accomplices to carry out other tasks, such as compiling a list of all general officers in Taiwan's military, and photographing and collecting the GPS coordinates of Taiwanese military installations and the American Institute in Taiwan's Taipei office, which he sent to his contact in China via WeChat.

The sites photographed also included the Alishan Radar Station, Jialutang Beach in Pingtung County, and the Renshou and Baoli camps of the Joint Operations Training Base Command in Pingtung, prosecutors said.

When he was interrogated, Chu claimed the money he received was payment from a friend in China for appraising antiques, and that he did not know why he was asked to provide photographs of military installations, prosecutors said.

Taiwan's National Security Act prohibits the initiation, funding, directing or development of organizations on behalf of foreign countries or foreign hostile forces.

People found guilty of endangering national or societal security through activities conducted on behalf of China can face up to seven years in prison and a fine of NT$50 million to NT$100 million.