RECRUITMENT:A former National Security Bureau agent allegedly tried to pay cash and offer safe passage to an intelligence officer in exchange for national secrets
Taipei Times
Date: Mar 17, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
A former National Security Bureau agent responsible for protecting former vice
Former vice president Annette Lu, center, shakes hands with a bystander at an event organized by the Tainan Bureau of Social Affairs at the National Tainan Living Art Center yesterday. Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) was detained on suspicion of espionage, prompting lawmakers to call for increased penalties for people caught spying for China.
Major Wang Hung-ju (王鴻儒), a former agent of the Special Service Command Center, was arrested on Monday for allegedly attempting to develop a spy network for China.
Wang allegedly attempted to recruit a Military Police Command intelligence officer surnamed Tseng (曾) to gather information about operations in exchange for a large cash payment and safe relocation to China if Tseng was exposed. Tseng rejected the offer.
From left, Democratic Progressive Party legislators Chen Chi-mai, Lee Chun-yi and Chao Tien-lin at a news conference in Taipei yesterday call for increased penalties for people caught spying for China. Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Wang’s activity was discovered by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau during a probe into Taiwanese businessman Ho Chih-chiang (何志強), who in 2010 was sentenced to 14 months in prison for attempting to recruit a security bureau official to collect information about overseas national security officials; the security bureau’s satellite communication system; Taiwan’s Japan policy and “secret diplomacy”; the Tibetan independence movement; and Falun Gong activities.
Wang, a former military police officer, was transferred to the security bureau’s special service unit in 2002 to protect Lu.
He retired in 2003 and was allegedly recruited by Chinese intelligence operatives in 2009. [FULL STORY]
