Today, Friday, November 6, four Taiwanese soldiers were accused by local authorities of leaking classified information to China, according to reports from the Presidential Office and prosecutors on the island. In recent years, several cases of espionage have been recorded, raising alarms among authorities while the Asian giant continues its military and political pressure on Taipei with its sovereignty claims.
This latest case has shocked Taiwan’s political elite not only because of the discovery of a new incident but also because it involves military personnel from a military unit responsible for the security of the Presidential Office. The fourth individual involved is a soldier from the Ministry of Defense’s Information and Telecommunications Command.
According to the prosecution, the accused operated between 2022 and 2024, using mobile phones to photograph military information, which was then delivered to Chinese agents. Additionally, they indicated that the accused received payments ranging from USD 8,000 to 20,000. The four are currently detained and face charges of corruption and violation of the national security law for “leaking and delivering confidential information or electromagnetic records to China.” If found guilty, they could face up to seven years in prison.
Among other episodes of espionage and attempts to pressure the current government, it is worth recalling the incident earlier this year when Taiwan was surprised by the appearance of three stratospheric balloons, which appeared to be from China, flying over the island’s airspace. This event followed the Chinese weather balloons that appeared over U.S. airspace, leading to their downing through the use of USAF F-22 fighter jets.
But Taiwan has not been the only one affected by these espionage campaigns. The United States has already been the target of several infiltration attempts through politics and telecommunications, among others. In fact, it has been the threat that the American country warned about regarding Chinese espionage in undersea internet cables.
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