TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Eight military officers will have to spend up to 13 years in prison for spying activities that included plans to fly a Chinook helicopter to China, the Supreme Court decided Thursday.
A go-between recruited serving and retired officers to pass information about the annual Han Kuang military exercises to China, in a move similar to other spy ring cases, per CNA. The group also recorded a video promising to surrender in the case of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
In addition, a lieutenant colonel in the Army’s Aviation and Special Forces Command surnamed Hsieh (謝) intended to commandeer a CH-47 Chinook helicopter and land it on a Chinese Navy ship near the median line of the Taiwan Strait. The defector was told he would receive US$15 million (NT$490 million) as a reward, but he was arrested before the plan could be carried out.
Hsieh was sentenced to nine years in prison by the Taiwan High Court, while the alleged mastermind behind the spy ring, Hsiao Hsiang-yun (蕭翔云), received the longest jail term of 13 years. Other members of the group were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 18 months to seven years and four months.
A retired officer acting as the recruiter on China’s behalf is believed to have left the country. The Supreme Court confirmed Thursday it had rejected all appeals against the August Taiwan High Court sentences, making them definitive.
