Chinese spies have penetrated Taiwan's military, case documents reveal

TAIPEI - For more than 20 years, Xie Xizhang presented himself as a Hong Kong businessman on visits to Taiwan. He now stands accused of having another mission: Recruiting spies for China.

On one trip in 2006, Xie met a senior retired Taiwanese navy officer, Chang Pei-ning, over a meal, according to official documents accusing the pair of espionage.

Chang would become one of Xie's agents, the documents allege, helping him penetrate Taiwan's active military leadership as part of a long-running Chinese operation to build a spy ring among serving and retired military officers.

The Taiwanese officers and their families were allegedly lured by Xie's offers of all-expenses-paid trips abroad, thousands of dollars in cash payments, and gifts such as silk scarves and belts for their wives.

In June 2019, counter-espionage officers moved against Xie's network, launching raids that uncovered further evidence, according to the documents, which were reviewed by Reuters.

Now, Chang is facing espionage charges and a warrant has been issued for the arrest of Xie. According to a person familiar with the case, Xie is not in Taiwan.

The operation detailed in these documents shows how Beijing allegedly sought out commanders in the Taiwan military and induced them to become spies. It comes amid a series of convictions for military espionage in Taiwan in recent years.

Those cases reveal that China has mounted a broader campaign to undermine the island's military and civilian leadership, corrode its will to fight, extract details of high-tech weapons and gain insights into defence planning, according to senior retired Taiwanese military officers and current counter-espionage agents, as well as former US military and intelligence officers with experience in Taiwan.

Taiwan's spycatchers are battling a campaign that has compromised senior officers at the heart of the island's armed forces and government agencies, a steady stream of convictions handed down in the courts shows.

Beijing has even penetrated the security detail assigned to protect Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen.

A retired presidential security officer and a serving military police lieutenant colonel at the unit tasked with protecting the president had their conviction upheld earlier this year for leaking sensitive information about Ms Tsai's security to a Chinese intelligence agency.

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The information included a hand-drawn organisational chart of the special service centre, the unit that protects the president, according to the ruling in the High Court.

The two were also charged with leaking the names, titles and work phone numbers of senior security officers guarding the Presidential Office and Ms Tsai's residence in the heart of Taipei.

In the past decade, at least 21 serving or retired Taiwanese officers with the rank of captain or above have been convicted of spying for China, according to a Reuters review of court records and reports from Taiwan's official news agencies.

At least nine other serving or retired members of the armed forces are currently on trial or being investigated on suspicion of contacts with spies from China, the review shows.

The 21 convicted officers were found guilty of recruiting spies for China or passing a range of sensitive information to China, including contact details of senior Taiwanese officers and details of Taiwan's agents in China.

The Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing did not respond to questions from Reuters about China's espionage activities in Taiwan.