Taiwanese prosecutors have charged seven individuals—including a Chinese national—with espionage-related offences after they allegedly gathered sensitive military intelligence for China.
The charges mark one of Taiwan’s most significant espionage cases in recent years, intensifying concerns over Beijing’s growing covert operations targeting the island.
China continues to claim Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to annex it. Taipei, meanwhile, has repeatedly accused Beijing of ramping up infiltration and intelligence-gathering efforts aimed at undermining its national security.
According to the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office, the Chinese suspect, identified only by the surname Ding, entered Taiwan multiple times under the guise of business and tourism.
Prosecutors say he recruited active-duty and retired Taiwanese military personnel to gather “sensitive information” related to defence plans, military operations, and government affairs on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.
The seven accused have been charged under Taiwan’s National Security Act, Classified National Security Information Protection Act, Criminal Code, and Criminal Code of the Armed Forces. An eighth suspect faces separate charges of banking and money laundering tied to the espionage scheme.
“These defendants betrayed their comrades and their nation,” prosecutors said, calling for severe penalties for the Taiwanese suspects involved.
Ding was arrested in Taiwan in July, an official from the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) told AFP.
A spokesman for the High Prosecutors Office noted that this is the first time since 2017 that a Chinese national has been formally charged with spying on Taiwanese soil. Most espionage operations by China, according to the MJIB, are conducted remotely from abroad using local collaborators.
The case was uncovered during an internal investigation by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense and later handled jointly by several government agencies.
While espionage between Taiwan and China is decades old, experts caution that the threat is now far more serious due to Beijing’s increasing military pressure and the heightened risk of an armed conflict.
Data from Taiwan’s National Security Bureau shows a sharp rise in espionage cases linked to China:
10 prosecutions in 2022, 48 prosecutions in 2023, 64 prosecutions last year
Some convictions have carried prison terms of up to 20 years.
In September, Taiwan sentenced four former members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party—including a former Presidential Office staffer—for spying for China, underscoring the growing scale and reach of Chinese intelligence operations on the island.
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