Two former Chinese Police Officers Charged with Spying for Taiwan

The Chinese government has charged two former members of the People’s Armed Police Force (PAPF) with conducting espionage for Taiwan.

A Hong Kong-based news website Takungpao reported on Monday that prosecutors in Jiangsu province have accused two former PAPF officers of spying for a Taiwan intelligence agency.

The report quoted Liu Hua, chief of the Jiangsu People’s Procuratorate, as saying that this is a “big spy case” that involves classified military information.

According to Liu, the two suspects, Ma Liangliang and Liang Xin, are retired officers from the Armed Police Force’s Beijing Corps who worked in Baoding, Hebei province, after retirement.

It was reported that Wu Rongtong, an agent for an unidentified Taiwan intelligence agency, recruited them in July 2016.

The suspects took advantage of their knowledge of the Armed Police and their connections with officers in active service to collect information about training and equipment as well as defense contractors’ research and development activities, the prosecutor said.

China has stepped up its counter-espionage activities in recent months with reports an entire US CIA ring busted. The US FBI recently arrested a former Hong Kong-based CIA ‘asset’ responsible for cultivating Chinese spies.

China has also created a counter-espionage helpline where common citizens can report about suspected spies and also offers generous rewards for helping to arrest spies.