State media reports alleging espionage by self-ruled island ‘intended as a warning’, former deputy defence minister of Taiwan says

South China Morning Post 
Date: 23 September, 2018
By: Kinling Lo

Beijing’s claims that Taipei has been blackmailing mainland students at Taiwanese universities to spy for the self-ruled island reflect the increasingly fraught relationship between the two sides, observers said.

In the past week, mainland Chinese state media have reported that the authorities had “cracked” more than 100 espionage cases involving the self-ruled island since 2011, including several of them allegedly operated from college campuses.

The coverage began with a September 15 report by state broadcaster China Central Television that focused on three cases of alleged spying. The report identified the suspects and detailed their operations.

“Mainland students in Taiwan are far away from home and therefore have a strong desire to make friends. Taiwan’s intelligence agents made use of this,” the report said.

Beijing tells Taiwan to halt all spying and ‘sabotage’ in mainland China
Beijing’s ties with Taipei have been under pressure since Tsai Ing-wen from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party was elected the island’s president in 2016, and those tensions might have been a catalyst for the mainland’s allegations of espionage.    [FULL  STORY]