TAIPEI, Taiwan – A Taiwanese court jailed a former army officer for 13 years for attempting to recruit an active-duty military pilot to defect to China with a helicopter, the latest in a series of national security cases involving retired military and law enforcement personnel.
The government of the democratic island accuses China of systematically cultivating retired military and police officers. It said in January that 85% of national security cases were linked to retired officers.
Former Taiwanese military officer Hsiao Hsiang-Yun was found guilty of attempting to persuade a military pilot to defect to China with a helicopter. He was also found guilty of coercing soldiers to film propaganda videos for China.
“The convicted individuals were found guilty of violating Taiwan’s National Security Act, Anti-Corruption Act, and Criminal Code of the Armed Forces,” the judge said in the Feb. 13 ruling.
According to the ruling, the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, worked with Hsiao to orchestrate the defection of Lt. Col. Hsieh Meng-Shu, who was encouraged to fly a CH-47 Chinook military helicopter to China. Hsieh drew up a plan to defect but was caught before he could carry it out.
Hsaio and Hsieh received bribes of 620,000 New Taiwan dollars (US$19,500) and 600,000 New Taiwan dollars (US$18,900), respectively, according to the court.
Ho Cheng-Hui, the deputy secretary-general of Taiwan National Security Institute, said that the CCP was using a psychological warfare tactic by targeting the officer corps, with a view to subverting Taiwan’s military.
“Piloting a military aircraft is quite challenging. The Taiwan Strait is roughly over 200 kilometers wide, and evading Taiwan’s air defense system requires low-altitude, sea-skimming flight, which reduces speed and makes maneuvering more difficult,” Ho told Radio Free Asia.
“The primary goal of the PLA in doing this is to undermine the psychological resilience of Taiwan’s military,” said Ho referring to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Ho noted that this case showed Taiwan’s military personnel were at high risk of being targeted by Chinese infiltration and psychological warfare.
“It is crucial to focus on improving military welfare, fostering a sense of honor, and ensuring related personnel’s isolation from encounters with sensitive or suspicious individuals,” he said, stressing that early warning measures such as exposing individuals, groups, or organizations linked to China would be crucial.
“Regulations must be put in place to safeguard military personnel and prevent their exposure to Chinese infiltration.”
Taiwan’s national security focus is on threats like espionage and interference from China, which considers the island a breakaway province that must be reunified, by force if necessary. Taiwan has governed itself since 1949.
China has not commented on the case.
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In January, Liang Wen-chieh, spokesperson of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which oversees relations across the Taiwan Strait, said the island’s government was “very concerned” that 85% of national security cases were linked to retired military and police.
China had been “systematically and methodically cultivating” such people, he said.
The number of people in Taiwan prosecuted for Chinese espionage increased from 16 in 2021 to 64 in 2024, Taiwan’s main intelligence agency, the National Security Bureau, or NSB, said in a report this month.
In 2024, 15 military veterans and 28 active service members were prosecuted, accounting for 23% and 43%, respectively, of all Chinese espionage cases.
Edited by Taejun Kang.