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A line of tanks fire at targets during Taiwan’s annual Han Kuang exercises on Penghu Island in May. Beijing has cut off official communication across the Taiwan Strait since the island’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, came to power last year. Photo: AP

Taipei charges grad student from mainland China with spying

Accused allegedly tried to recruit contacts in Taiwan after meeting official at cross-strait forum in Shanghai

Taiwan

A Chinese graduate from one of Taiwan’s top universities was charged with espionage on Thursday as prosecutors accused him of attempting to recruit spies for Beijing.

The indictment comes as officials warn of growing intelligence threats from Beijing at a time of increasingly frosty ties across the Taiwan Strait.

Beijing still sees the island as part of its territory to be brought back into its fold even though Taiwan has been self-governing since the two sides split after a civil war in 1949. Relations have worsened since the island’s Beijing-sceptic president, Tsai Ing-wen, came to power last year.

The Taipei District Prosecutors office said on Thursday a man surnamed Zhou – who came to Taiwan to study in 2012 – violated the National Security Act.

Local media identified the man as Zhou Hongxu from Liaoning province in northeast China, who graduated from the National Chengchi University in Taipei last year.

Prosecutors said Zhou was recruited by a mainland Chinese official he met at an event promoting cross-strait exchanges in Shanghai in July 2014, who asked him to build a spy network in return for remuneration.

Zhou was told to “introduce politicians, officials in the military, police, intelligence and diplomacy units and other influential people in society to Chinese local officials in destinations abroad”, they said.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen observes the Han Kuang military drill in Penghu in May. Photo: Reuters

The Chinese government would pick up the tab for any meetings arranged with local mainland officials, to be held in locations abroad, Zhou was allegedly told.

Zhou then unsuccessfully attempted to recruit a Taiwanese official on multiple occasions between August 2016 and March this year, the prosecutors said.

The unidentified Taiwan official – who might have had access to diplomatic documents – was reportedly told he could be paid as much as US$10,000 a quarter if he agreed to work for the Chinese government.

Zhou also said he could arrange for the official to meet mainland government representatives in Japan under the pretence of a holiday, according to the prosecutors.

National Security Bureau director general Peng Sheng-chu said in parliament in March that Chinese espionage is “more serious than before”. Local media reports claim that up to 5,000 people may be spying for the mainland on the island.

Taiwan’s cabinet is seeking to tighten existing restrictions on travel to the mainland for former high-ranking Taipei officials to “protect national security and interest”.

Cross-strait relations have rapidly deteriorated since Tsai’s inauguration. She refuses to acknowledge both sides are part of one China. Beijing has cut all official communication with Taipei.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Taiwan charges mainlander with spying
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