TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Army released an anti-espionage video on Wednesday highlighting the entrapment and intimidation tactics used by Chinese spies.
The Army pointed out in a Facebook post that spies may first ask service members to record “loyalty videos” or provide general administrative information, claiming that there is no criminal liability and that their actions are undetectable.
They assure service members that everything will remain confidential or that others have already received payments. Spies gain leverage over military personnel through these schemes and subsequently threaten and coerce them, the Army said.
The Army urged service members to recognize that these acts may appear harmless and safe but are in fact dangerous. The video stressed that personnel should not assume their actions are okay just because certain files are non-classified. Any leakage of military information is a serious matter, it said.
At the end of the video, the Army emphasized that if service members have already fallen for this “trap,” they should admit their mistake to seek reduced punishment and an opportunity for reform.
The military has set up a hotline (0800-064-581) for personnel to report espionage or if they are in need of legal assistance.
A new classification policy for confidential information was recently implemented as part of efforts to strengthen counterintelligence measures. The policy requires official documents and reports to have a classification level. The document must be reviewed and labeled section by section, and each paragraph within the text also needs to be labeled.
The five categories are: unclassified, confidential, secret, top secret, and absolute top secret.
