Former Airline Employee Charged with Spying for China

TaiwanPlus News

Prosecutors say a former EVA Air employee has been caught trying to bribe a former classmate in the government to divulge intel on behalf of China. It's the latest in a string of more than 20 espionage cases this year so far.

Transcript

00:00A former EVA Air employee is the latest Taiwanese person caught trying to spy for China.

00:06He was posted to China in a senior role between 2012 and 2014,

00:10and by the time he came back to Taiwan was in the service of Beijing

00:13with instructions to set up a spy web.

00:17Prosecutors say he turned to a former classmate with a job at the Mainland Affairs Council,

00:21the government agency charged with China-Taiwan ties.

00:24But the classmate turned down an offer of around $3,000 for state secrets

00:29and reported the attempted bribe to officials.

00:32Now, the former airline exec faces charges of violating the national security law.

00:37In his case, that could mean up to seven years in prison

00:40and a maximum fine of more than $3 million.

00:43But as officials say, not all the facts of the case are out there yet.

00:59This is far from the only Chinese spying case.

01:05Prosecutions have been on the rise in recent years.

01:08And from the start of the year to September alone, there were 24 cases.

01:13But the tactic of getting an airline worker to spy is a bit unusual.

01:17Beijing often targets former military members,

01:20getting them to recruit active duty personnel for spying.

01:23Some lawmakers say it's time for Taiwan to tighten up protection of its intel.

01:40A former defense official says Taiwanese should be cautious when people they know,

01:44maybe former university classmates, approach them with a proposition.

01:48He says the penalties mean spying for Beijing just isn't worth the risks.

01:52But Beijing has many ways of recruiting Taiwanese spies,

02:08from offering money to coercion.

02:11And the string of spy cases just this year shows that for many,

02:14China's advances may be too hard to resist.

02:17Andy Xue and John Vantriest for Taiwan Plus.

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