Taiwan says China is trying to recruit spies locally to carry out armed insurrection and form sniper teams in the event of a Chinese invasion. The claims come from a report published by Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, which also details a rise in prosecutions relating to espionage.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Taiwan's national security authorities are giving some indication of the extent of the
00:05challenge that Taiwan's up against when it comes to Chinese espionage.
00:10A new report contains figures showing the numbers of prosecutions jumping in recent
00:15years from 16 in 2021 to 64 in 2024. Of the 64, 28 involved serving members of the military
00:27and 15 former members of the military. Other targets for China's spying recruitment,
00:33according to Taiwan, are government agencies and local temples, religious groups and criminal
00:39gangs. One of the more notable parts of the new report
00:44is about what China would try to get its spy networks to do if it invaded Taiwan.
00:50The National Security Bureau says that gangs recruited as spies were asked to raise Chinese
00:55flags and carry out armed insurrection. And that China is instructing recruits to
01:01form sniper teams to plan sniper missions against military facilities and foreign institutions
01:08in Taiwan. To counter all this, the National Security
01:11Bureau says it's cooperating more closely with military and investigative agencies.
01:17Fu Hua-hung, Justin Wu and Louise Watt in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.