Taiwan’s spy agency says China is working with gangs, shell companies to gain intelligence on Taiwan

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s intelligence bureau says China’s main spy agency is working with criminal gangs, shell companies and other dubious partners to gain intelligence on Taiwan’s defences, resulting in a major rise in those arrested for alleged espionage on the island.

Current and retired Taiwanese military personnel are a special concern, accounting for around half of the 64 alleged spies put on trial last year, it said. That number is up from 16 in 2021 and 10 in 2022.

The arrests are in line with China’s stepped-up campaign of military intimidation, economic coercion and “grey area” tactics such as utilising the internet to promote unification and providing all-expense-paid trips to China to low-level government officials.

According to a report released over the weekend by Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, Chinese agents have sought to use the Taiwanese underworld to channel funds to those with information to sell. Gangs, many with origins dating to before the 1949 split between the two sides, are sought out, along with loan sharks, shell companies that can be used to launder funds, religious sects that sometimes engage in illegal activity, and non-profit groups, the report said.

Some payments are made in cryptocurrency, while old-fashioned methods are also used such as sexual seduction to trap unsuspecting targets and pressure them to reveal secrets. That was the case of a one-star general, Lo Hsien-che, who was caught in such a scheme while stationed in Thailand, the bureau said.

Among those arrested last year were 23 people working together in a spy ring, one of whom was sentenced to 20 years in prison, it said.