TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Kuo Hsi (郭璽), a former advisor to Taiwan’s Navy, has claimed that opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) leaked secrets about Taiwan's Hai Kun submarine to get political rewards from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Kuo told Taiwan News on Tuesday (Oct. 3) that Ma leaked Taiwan’s Hai Kun submarine secrets. However, he doubted she would actually achieve anything from her actions.

Ma has denied Kuo's accusations. She also started an aggravated defamation lawsuit against him on Saturday (Sept. 30). Ma said if the accusations were true, Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would have seized the opportunity to publicly denounce a KMT legislator long ago, per Yahoo.

Kuo said the news that Taiwan’s defense secrets were leaked was a huge propaganda victory for the CCP. However, he added, it would not defeat Taiwan.

Kuo alleged that Ma’s leaks led to the detention of foreign citizens in their home countries. He added equipment key to the building of Taiwan’s submarine had also been confiscated by authorities abroad.

Kuo said that Ma’s leaks were a significant setback to the program. He alleged the team building the submarine was dumbstruck when they heard that foreign experts helping with the project were arrested because of the leaks.

Even so, Kuo added, “In the end, we found a way.”