Taiwan says unwilling spies blackmailed by China

By IAN ALLEN| intelNews.org |
The Taiwanese government has announced the arrest of four Taiwanese civil servants caught spying on behalf of China. Justice Ministry spokesperson, Luo Chi-wang, said the four were blackmailed by Chinese intelligence officers after they were photographed walking into a red-light-district bar in an unnamed city of mainland China. The Chinese officers warned the four civil servants that they would send copies of the photographs to their families unless they worked as operatives for the Ministry of State Security (MSS), the intelligence agency of the People’s Republic of China. Luo Chi-wang added that a Justice Ministry investigation revealed that another 36 Taiwanese civil servants “conducted themselves in inappropriate ways with Chinese officials” but refused to elaborate on this statement. He said, however, that the Ministry sent warnings to all Taiwanese government employees to refrain from potentially compromising activities while travelling abroad. No information has emerged as to the status of the four civil servants apprehended by Taiwanese counterintelligence agents. When questioned about Taipei’s allegations, Chinese government officials responded they “did not know about the cases and could not comment”.