Taiwan's Defense Minister Under Pressure Over Latest Chinese Spy Cases

TaiwanPlus News

Taiwan's defense minister has faced a grilling at the legislature as pressure mounts over a rising number of cases of alleged Chinese espionage, with the latest scandal reaching as high as the Presidential Office.

Transcript

00:00We begin with the latest on Chinese espionage in Taiwan.

00:03The country's defense minister, Wellington Koo, has been grilled at the legislature

00:06over a string of recent spy cases, some reportedly including military police who guard the president.

00:13Rick Lourd has been following developments and joins us now from our newsroom.

00:17Rick, what has the defense minister been saying?

00:22Well, Wellington Koo, the defense minister, is taking a lot of flack in the legislature this morning.

00:27Lawmakers asking him how Taiwan's military could become so rotten with Chinese espionage

00:32and pressuring him to do more to root out those Chinese spies.

00:37Koo, of course, under increasing pressure here over those rising number of spy cases

00:42that appear to be getting higher up Taiwan's chain of command.

00:46This week, there's been reports of spy cases involving a former aide to the foreign minister

00:51and also the military police tasked with protecting Taiwan's presidential office.

00:57Koo said that he had plans to revise the military penal code to include premeditated espionage.

01:04This is, of course, all part of China's wider efforts to intimidate Taiwan into accepting its claims.

01:12Influence and infiltration are on the rise here.

01:15Now, to get a sense of how big an issue this is for Taiwan,

01:18I spoke to political scientist Jia-in Zhong of the National University of Singapore,

01:23and I began by asking him whether Taiwan was doing enough to combat Chinese espionage.

01:28Of course, more can be done, but Taiwan as a democracy will probably want to do so in a way

01:37that follows a rule of law that respects human rights and due process and all that,

01:42which can mean that things are a little bit tougher.

01:44In some ways, it's a sort of marathon to address espionage in general and PRC espionage in particular,

01:50given the resources available to the Chinese state.

01:53In terms of military courts, in terms of investigation, in terms of capacity,

01:57these things are important.

01:58I think having clear laws that help agencies figure out what to do,

02:04that's probably useful as well.

02:06I would also note that there is the related influence operation stuff

02:09that is not exactly espionage, but is somewhat related.

02:13Those things can and probably should be clarified at the same time.

02:16And, you know, it's also about upgrading skills and technology and techniques

02:22and field craft continually, because on the PRC side, you know,

02:25they will continue to improve themselves.

02:28And what exactly is the threat that Taiwan is facing?

02:31What is Beijing's big plan through these espionage campaigns?

02:34So there's several.

02:36One is to perhaps understand what Taiwan is doing in terms of its policies,

02:42to get key technologies, get its war plans, for instance.

02:48And that is slightly different from the influence operation stuff,

02:51which seeks to shape public opinion, shape legislation and policy.

02:56So there are these two slightly related, but slightly different fronts

03:00that aren't exactly reducible to each other.

03:03And we've also seen recent Chinese spy cases in the Philippines.

03:06Is Chinese espionage on the rise globally?

03:11So this is an interesting point.

03:13I mean, there's a claim that the PRC is stepping up his espionage activities.

03:17That hasn't been said.

03:19With espionage cases coming to the public, of course, they create a lot of trepidation.

03:24They create a lot of, they draw a lot of attention.

03:28But the fact that espionage cases are being detected also means that,

03:32you know, espionage networks are being disrupted, right?

03:37So an increase in activity, if that's matched by an increase in the breaking up of espionage activities,

03:43that is not necessarily that bad a thing.

03:47In the legislature today, the Ministry of National Defense also said that China's tactics are changing,

03:53increasingly using criminal gangs and religious groups for recruitment.

03:58This is an evolving threat for Taiwan.

04:00And what's at stake for Taiwan's military is their credibility as they lead the fight against China.

04:06Thank you, Rick.

04:09We'll be keeping an eye on those spy cases.

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