China is doing a lot more spying in Taiwan lately, if the increase in prosecutions is any indication (Taipei Times, January 15, 2025).
In 2021, 16 Chinese spies were prosecuted. In 2022, ten spies. In 2024, 64.
These are data from a report released by the country’s National Security Bureau.
Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the [Chinese Communist Party] used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information from Taiwan’s government, the report said.
The evidence suggests that most spies being recruited in Taiwan are former or current military personnel. Of the 64 prosecuted in 2024, 15 were retired and 28 were active.
The CCP seeks operatives in Taiwan by building network connections, using financial incentives, coercing people with debt, and infiltrating military, government and civil society organizations, [the NSB report] said, adding that China also tries to interfere with elections in Taiwan.
Chinese spies may have been especially active in the runup to the presidential election of January 13, 2024. The Bureau suggests that the greater alertness and helpfulness of the public is one reason for the increase in prosecutions. Be that as it may, China is also preparing for war.
The NSB said it has found evidence that gangs recruited by the CCP were asked to raise Chinese flags and engage in armed insurrection in the event of an attempted invasion by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
The insurrection plans called for trained snipers in Taiwan to attack members of the military and foreign organizations, the report said.
It also called for military personnel to fly helicopters to China to surrender during an invasion and to hand over Taiwan’s defense plans to the CCP ahead of such an invasion, it said.
The Party uses cryptocurrency or other digital forms of money to make it harder to trace its payments to the spies it recruits.
