TAIPEI: A Taiwanese businessman and his son have been indicted for recruiting two soldiers who allegedly helped them collect confidential information for China about the island’s largest military exercise, prosecutors said.
After moving to China’s southeast Fujian province in 2015 to do business, the man, identified by his surname Huang, and his son were “lured” by two Chinese officials he met to “collect confidential national defence documents”, said Taiwan High Prosecutors Office’s Tainan branch.
The duo “intended to endanger national security, and to jointly develop a network in Taiwan to lure and absorb … active-duty servicemen,” prosecutors said in a statement issued late Monday (Aug 7).
The Huangs were charged with violating national security law and the state secrets protection act, while the soldiers were indicted for violating the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces and for corruption.
Accused of enlisting the two soldiers who worked for the air force’s air defence and missile division, the father and son had asked them to sign a letter to pledge “allegiance” to Beijing as well as arranging for them to meet Chinese officials abroad, the statement said.