An army lieutenant colonel was detained on suspicion of spying for China in July. Now, new details have come to light, including the hefty cash incentive he was offered to defect to China.
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New Taiwanese media reports claim that a Taiwan Army lieutenant colonel was offered US$15 million to carry out a daring plan. According to the reports, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) asked the officer to steal one of Taiwan’s Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters, fly 24 nautical miles from the coast, and land on China’s aircraft carrier Shandong, just 5 minutes away. The officer, surnamed Hsieh (謝), initially found the plan too risky and turned China down.
But the following month, China upped their offer to US$15 million and promised to help settle his family in Bangkok, Thailand. According to the plan, Hsieh was to take off from Kaohsiung while the Chinese military carried out a military exercise in the north to distract the Taiwanese military. The flight path avoided the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which is under heavy surveillance. Prosecutors also discovered that Hsieh had secretly recorded meetings with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and gave them to Chinese intelligence.
Expert at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research Su Tzu-yun ( 蘇紫雲), says that if Hsieh were to have succeeded, it would have damaged the military’s combat power and affected troop morale. Su adds that it might even have lowered trust between the United States and Taiwan.
Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) says that the military has been strengthening counter-intelligence education across all branches. He adds that they have also been active in reporting cases to prosecutors for further investigation.