TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Three Air Force officers and their alleged accomplice have been indicted for leaking military intelligence to China in exchange for loans.
The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau said Wednesday China has been leveraging state resources and vast financial assets to target active-duty military personnel facing financial difficulties and in need of loans, per Liberty Times. By using debt as leverage and threatening to report them to their units, Chinese intelligence coerces military personnel into gathering intelligence and infiltrating military bases, posing a threat to national security.
An investigation revealed that since 2019, a man surnamed Huang (黃) had been operating under the directives of a Chinese intelligence officer surnamed Wang (王), a resident of Fujian Province's Jinjiang City. Huang set up an underground money-lending operation in Taiwan, deliberately targeting cash-strapped military officers through online advertisements.
Huang also enlisted his sister, who worked at a financial institution, to allegedly facilitate illicit payment transfers.
Further investigations by the MJIB, the Ministry of National Defense’s Political Warfare Bureau, and the Military Intelligence Bureau have uncovered that Huang provided loans to Air Force Captain Chen (陳), Sergeant Chen (陳), and Sergeant Hu (胡), with the latter stationed at a radar facility. In exchange, these suspects allegedly leaked classified information, including details of the Han Kuang Exercise.
The investigation was formally concluded and indictments were filed by the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office Kaohsiung Branch on Wednesday.
In a recent previous case, Huang was involved in a similar scheme with three former personnel from the 211th Military Police Battalion, responsible for guarding the Presidential Office, and one former member of the MND’s Information, Communications, and Electronic Force Command. In December, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office indicted these four individuals for breaking the National Security Act and selling state secrets to China for NT$1.84 million (US$55,607).
