Taiwan arrests general for spying for China

Taiwan arrests general for spying for China

2011-02-10 00:50:30 GMT+7 (ICT)

TAIPEI (BNO NEWS) -- Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Wednesday announced the arrest of a general suspected of spying for China, the Taipei Times reported.

Major General Lo Hsien-che, 51, was detained on January 25 in what is called the worst espionage case in 50 years. Lo was the head of communications and electronic information at the Army Command Headquarters.

Wang Ming-wo, acting director of the General Political Warfare Bureau, said that law enforcement agents searched Lo's office at the Army Command Headquarters as well as his residence.

During the search, police officers found confidential documents and seized them. Wang added that Lo was recruited by Chinese agents in 2004 while he was stationed in Thailand. He returned to Taiwan in 2005.

Lo, a one-star general, held a high position within the Taiwanese army and is one of Taiwan's highest-ranking military officials to have been accused of spying for China in more than two decades.

Wang downsized the impact of Lo's actions as he said that due to the time he spent overseas he had only limited access to highly classified information. Wang added that Lo was in charge of administrative responsibilities involving mainly non-sensitive tasks.

However, Tsai Huang-liang, of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said that Lo could have done some critical damage to Taiwan's military strength due to his position.

In addition, lawmakers from all parties urged the MND to punish all involved in the espionage case as Lo's case was probably just the tip of the iceberg of the Chinse involvement in Taipei.

Tsai suggested that President Ma Ying-jeou should replace Defense Minister Kao Hua-chu and Chief of the General Staff Lin Chen-yi in order to disrupt the espionage network.

The MND set up a special task force composed of officials from the intelligence, communication, anti-espionage, army and military judicial fields to assess any damage that might have been caused by Lo’s alleged espionage activities.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-02-10