Taiwan and China have conducted rare talks on exchanging intelligence agents jailed on each side, in a further sign of warming ties between the former rivals, local media reported on Monday.
Representatives from China asked Taiwan to release former army general Lo Hsien-che, the highest-ranking Taiwanese official to be convicted of spying for China in Taiwan, the Taipei-based China Times said.
“The demand was flatly rejected” in the discussions held in Southeast Asia, the paper said, citing a national security source.
“It would have caused waves of disturbance if Lo were released.”
The talks broke down after China rejected Taiwan’s demand that it release senior intelligence agents Chu Kung-hsun and Hsu Kuo-chang, the paper said, without specifying when they took place.
The duo, both colonels in Taiwan’s Military Intelligence Bureau, were kidnapped in Vietnam and taken to China in 2006, the paper said.