Retired Taiwanese military officers under investigation over alleged spying activities
- Two former colonels and a former major general are suspected of handing confidential documents to mainland officials
- Espionage allegations follow reports that hundreds of Taiwanese spy cases have been uncovered on the mainland, and four ‘confessions’ on state TV
Three retired Taiwanese military officers, including a major general, are under investigation in Taiwan over alleged spying activities involving mainland China, the Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office said.
Taiwanese investigators searched the homes of the three retired officers on Tuesday and they were taken in for questioning, according to the prosecutor’s office.
“We have questioned the three separately over suspected violations of the national security and intelligence laws,” a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said.
The two retired colonels from the Military Intelligence Bureau, identified by their surnames Chang and Chou, and a retired major general identified as Yueh are alleged to have met mainland Chinese national security officials – sometimes together and sometimes separately – during trips to the mainland between 2013 and 2018.
They are suspected of handing confidential documents to the mainland officials during those meetings, the prosecutor’s office said, without elaborating.
Under Taiwanese law, anyone found guilty of passing secret information to mainland China can be jailed for up to seven years.
