Taiwanese President Unveils New Measures to Counter CCP Infiltration

‘By its actions, China is already a foreign hostile force,’ Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te arrives at a naval base in Taoyuan on Oct. 18, 2024. I-Hwa Cheng/AFP via Getty Images

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on March 13 pledged tougher measures to counter the infiltration and espionage activities from the Chinese communist regime.

Speaking from his office after meeting with senior security officials, Lai said Beijing has been taking advantage of Taiwan’s freedom and attempting to “divide, destroy, and subvert [Taiwan] from within.”

Lai said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has infiltrated Taiwan’s media, politics, armed forces, and police to carry out its campaign.

“What they are trying to do is to sow seeds of discord in our society, keep us occupied with internal conflicts, and cause us to ignore the real threat from outside,” Lai told reporters.

Lai said Beijing has “actively” plotted ways to “infiltrate and spy on” Taiwan’s military.

In 2024, a total of 64 individuals were prosecuted by Taiwanese courts for spying for the CCP. Among them, two-thirds are active-duty or retired military members, the National Security Bureau in Taipei said in the report released in January.

“By its actions, China already satisfies the definition of a ‘foreign hostile force’ defined by our Anti-Infiltration Act,” Lai said. “We have no choice but to take even more proactive measures.”

As part of the 17 countermeasures he laid out at the press conference, Lai announced plans to review legislation aimed at restoring the military trial system for active-duty personnel suspected of aiding the enemy, alongside expanding criminal law to make any “expressions of loyalty to the enemy” a punishable offense.

Lai said his government will implement a strict review of Taiwan visits or residency applications by Chinese citizens and will make “necessary adjustments” to the flows of money, people, and technology across the strait.

In addition, he said the government will issue reminders to Taiwanese actors and singers performing in China on their statements and actions, a response to what Taipei sees as an ongoing Chinese campaign to pressure pop stars into making pro-CCP comments.

Confronted by “increasingly severe threats,” Lai pledged to do his best to ensure that the democratic way of life for Taiwan’s 23 million residents remains intact, but he called on the public to “stay vigilant and take action.”

“History tells us that any authoritarian act of aggression or annexation will ultimately end in failure,” Lai said. “The only way we can safeguard freedom and prevail against authoritarian aggression is through solidarity.”

‘Rampant’ Espionage Activities

Taiwan’s defense ministry has unveiled a proposed amendment to the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces aimed at cracking down on the CCP’s espionage efforts targeting its military.

Under the proposal, Taiwanese soldiers would face a penalty that includes up to seven years in prison if they “swear allegiance to the enemy,” according to a draft published on the defense ministry’s website on March 10. That includes any expression of loyalty—such as spoken or written declarations or actions—that would cause military disadvantages, according to the proposal.

“The CCP’s intelligence-gathering and espionage activities are increasingly rampant,” the defense ministry said in a separate release. “Mainly through money, investment, gambling, and other methods, it has sought to lure and recruit active duty military service members into swearing allegiance to the enemy ... which has severely undermined the national security.”

A man watches a news program about Chinese military drills surrounding Taiwan, on a giant screen outside a shopping mall in Beijing on Oct. 14, 2024. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images

In January, Taiwan’s prosecutors announced that a group of seven retired military personnel were indicted for allegedly taking photos of Washington’s de facto embassy in Taipei and drawing maps of the island’s four military installations for the CCP.

One of the defendants was identified as Chu Hung-i, a retired Army officer who frequently traveled to China for business following his retirement. According to a January statement from a district prosecutor’s office in Taiwan, during a visit to China in 2019, Chu established contact with a Chinese military intelligence officer who promised him financial rewards for recruiting retired veterans in Taiwan.

In the following years, Chu managed to recruit six retired military officers and set up a political party called Rehabilitation Alliance, prosecutors said. During the Party’s candidates’ campaign for parliamentary seats in January 2024 elections, Chu received about $81,000 from the CCP, although none of his candidates was elected, according to prosecutors.

On March 12, the Defense Ministry also confirmed a case that involved a retired air force major who claimed to be working for a U.S. think tank. The retired major, surnamed Shih, allegedly persuaded an air force air intercept controller to hand over classified files in exchange for payment. Shih allegedly delivered the documents to his contacts in China for about $45,000, of which he shared about $6,000 with the serving officer, surnamed Hsu.

The leaked information related to Taiwan’s domestically developed air-launched Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles and Taiwan’s response to Chinese incursions into its air defense identification zone, the Defense Ministry said.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.