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Taiwan National Security Report: CCP Employing Increasing Numbers of Gangsters and Military Personnel for Espionage

Taiwan’s National Security Bureau released a report on January 13 titled “Analysis of Espionage Infiltration Methods.” The report stated that the number of individuals prosecuted for espionage in Taiwan increased from 48 in 2023 to 64 in 2024, showing a significant rise compared to 2021 and 2022. The number of espionage cases prosecuted also surged from three in 2021, to five in 2022, to 14 in 2023, and to 15 in 2024.

Among those prosecuted in 2024, 15 were retired military personnel, accounting for 23 percent of the total cases, while 28 were active-duty personnel, accounting for 43 percent.

The report identified five primary infiltration channels used by Beijing in 2024:

  1. Criminal gangs
  2. Underground money laundering networks
  3. Front companies
  4. Temple organizations
  5. Civil associations

Additionally, the report detailed four main espionage tactics employed by Beijing:

  1. Recruitment of active-duty soldiers by retired military personnel
  2. Online recruitment
  3. Financial bribery
  4. Debt coercion

The report accused the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of:

  • Colluding with criminal gangs to establish armed internal supporters within Taiwan, including recruiting gang members to raise the Chinese flag and engage in sabotage if China launches a military invasion.
  • Using gang members to recruit retired military personnel and form “sniper teams” to target military facilities and foreign institutions in Taiwan.
  • Encouraging retired military personnel to set up shell companies, underground banks, and gambling operations, coercing active-duty military officers into spying, signing loyalty pledges to the CCP, or even defecting with military helicopters.
  • Funding temple organizations in Taiwan, using religious activities to connect with active-duty soldiers and persuading them to wear military uniforms while holding the Chinese flag to record “surrender videos” or hand over classified defense plans.
  • Organizing all-expenses-paid trips to China for local village chiefs during Taiwan’s elections, attempting to influence voter support for specific candidates, and, manipulating social media by spreading false news and poll data to sway election outcomes.
  • Leveraging social media platforms such as Facebook, Line (a popular social media used by Taiwanese), and LinkedIn to offer online loans to active and retired military personnel, then pressuring them to provide classified information or recruit others to settle their debts. Payments were allegedly made through cryptocurrency to evade detection.

Source: VOA, January 13, 2024
https://www.voachinese.com/a/taiwan-s-spy-agency-says-china-is-working-with-gangs-shell-companies-to-gain-intelligence-on-taiwan-20250113/7934728.html

Briefings | | |   @CS Geo-Strategic Trend

Tianjin Publishes Prices for Organs, Sparking Concern over Organ Harvesting

According to a report by Guancha.cn on January 23, the Tianjin Municipal Health Commission announced on January 20 that six government departments, including the Tianjin Health Commission, have issued two new regulations which took effect on February 1, 2025:

  1. “Implementation Rules for Organ Donation Procurement Fees and Financial Management in Tianjin (Trial)”
  2. “Fee Standards for Organ Donation Procurement in Tianjin (Trial)”

The second regulation explicitly lists the prices for human donor organs, including:

  • Liver: ¥250,000 (US$34,000)
  • Kidney: ¥200,000
  • Pancreas: ¥50,000
  • Heart: ¥80,000
  • Cornea: ¥12,000
  • Lungs: ¥60,000
  • Small intestine: ¥40,000

The announcement sparked concern and skepticism among Chinese netizens, some of whom made reference to the CCP’s history of harvesting organs from religious minorities and political prisoners of conscience.

Source: Epoch Times, January 29, 2025
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/25/1/25/n14421941.htm

Briefings | | |   @CS Government/Politics Social Stability

Chinese Scholar Reveals Allegations of CCP Using Psychiatric Drugs on Its Own Ranks

On February 21, Australia-based liberal scholar Yuan Hongbing told Epoch Times that an insider from within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) system had recently revealed to him that in 2023, the CCP’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) issued a top-secret internal directive. The directive authorized to inject psychiatric drugs to officials targeted for political disloyalty to Xi Jinping, after their case was concluded, to damage their nervous system, rendering them mentally incapacitated.

Yuan claimed that former Chinese Defense Ministers Li Shangfu (李尚福) and Wei Fenghe (魏凤和), as well as former Air Force General Liu Yazhou (刘亚洲), who has already been sentenced, were subjected to such “psychiatric drug treatment.” Additionally, the cases of Central Military Commission member and Political Work Department director Miao Hua (苗华), along with hundreds of military generals, are still under investigation. Once their interrogations are completed, they too will be subjected to psychiatric drug injection.

“In short, any official who shows political disloyalty to Xi Jinping could be forcibly given psychiatric drugs,” Yuan asserted. He further emphasized that this has brought the CCP’s brutality to the next level – against its own ranks.

The CCP has a long history of using psychiatric drugs to suppress dissidents, with the Falun Gong practitioners being the largest victim group. Some other dissidents and human rights activists have also suffered from forced drugging, too.

Source: Epoch Times, February 23, 2025
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/25/2/22/n14443366.htm

Briefings | | |   @CS Government/Politics

Suspected Chinese Spies Posing as Taiwanese Tourists Arrested in the Philippines

Philippine TV network GMA reported that several suspected Chinese were arrested in Palawan province, near the South China Sea, for monitoring the movements of Philippine Coast Guard vessels.

These individuals, who claimed to be Taiwanese tourists, were caught hiding in a secluded spot at a seaside resort in Palawan, using their mobile phones to record Philippine Coast Guard ships entering and leaving their base. Local residents photographed one of them in the act. Additionally, these individuals operated drones without permission and even installed surveillance cameras on coconut trees in the resort, facing the sea, precisely where Philippine Coast Guard and Navy vessels operate.

These Chinese individuals were linked to a Chinese national surnamed Deng. The Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested Deng in Makati City, Metro Manila, about two weeks prior. Deng was accused of collaborating with Filipino accomplices to drive a vehicle equipped with detection instruments, gathering topographical and structural data around military bases. Source: Radio Free Asia, January 29, 2025
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/xinwenkuaixun/2025/01/29/suspected-chinese-spies-take-videos-philippine-coast-guard-ship-palawan/

Briefings | | |   @CS Geo-Strategic Trend

Brazilian Government Discovers Chinese Automaker BYD Using Chinese “Slave Labor” in Brazilian Factory

Last month, local officials in Bahia, Brazil, discovered 163 Chinese workers at the construction site of BYD’s new factory who were working under conditions described as “slave-like.” These workers were employed by BYD’s contractor, “Golden Craftsmen.” The workers’ living conditions were shocking: some slept on beds without mattresses, a few dozen people shared a single bathroom, and they worked 7 days a week. Prosecutors have characterized the workers as “victims of human trafficking.” Investigators reported that the company had confiscated the passports of 107 employees, and many workers had their wages withheld.

On January 7, a key labor inspector revealed that BYD brought hundreds of Chinese workers to Brazil using non-compliant visas. Brazil has long sought increased Chinese investment, but China’s “Beijing model” brings its own workers to host countries, which poses challenges to creating local employment opportunities.

Source: VOA,  January 8, 2025
https://www.voachinese.com/a/byd-brought-hundreds-of-chinese-workers-to-brazil-on-irregular-visas-inspector-20250108/7929229.html

Briefings | | |   @CS Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend

CCP Designates December 24th as Day of Commemoration for Battle of Chosin Reservoir, Replacing Christmas Eve

In December 2024, Chinese media, including the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) mouthpiece Xinhua News Agency, has asserted that December 24th should not be celebrated as Christmas Eve, but rather as the victory day of the Battle of Chosin Reservoir (长津湖战役). This battle marked the first major military confrontation between the Chinese army and U.S. and U.N. forces during the Korean War.

Netizens discovered that, following 2019, platforms including Baidu and other Chinese internet sites made alterations to the timeline of the battle, changing its end date from December 13, 1950, to December 24th. This revision provided Chinese media with a basis on which to “reclaim” Christmas Eve as a day for promotion of the CCP’s anti-U.S. narrative.

Sources:
1. Radio Free Asia, December 25, 2024
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/china-christmas-eve-battle-of-lake-changjin-nationalism-12252024112521.html
2.  Aboluo, December 29, 2024
https://www.aboluowang.com/2024/1229/2152143.html

Hot Topics | | |   @CS Defense/Military Government/Politics US-China Relations

Guards Defending Taiwan’s Presidential Office Sold Secrets to Beijing

Voice of America (VOA) recently ran a story on guards working at the Taiwanese Presidential Palace who sold information to the Chinese Government. Those charged include members of the elite Military Police 211th Battalion, known as the “Number One Battalion of the Nation.”

On December 6, 2024, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted four individuals on charges including violations of the National Security Act, including three non-commissioned officers from the 211th Battalion and a soldier from the Ministry of National Defense’s Information, Communications, and Electronic Force. The charged individuals are accused of reselling classified military documents to Chinese intelligence personnel. Allegedly, starting from April 2022, they secretly photographed classified documents at their workplaces using their mobile phones and sent them to Chinese intelligence agents. They received a total payment of NT$1.84 million (US$56,000) in exchange for this information.

Source: VOA, December 6, 2024
https://www.voachinese.com/a/taiwan-president-office-mps-being-chinese-spy-20241206/7889458.html

Briefings | | |   @CS Geo-Strategic Trend

TV YLE Reveals CCP Spy Work in Finland

Finland’s public broadcaster YLE aired an investigative documentary titled “Spy/Journalist” on November 20, 2024. The documentary has drawn significant attention in Finland, revealing how the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) intelligence network operates in Nordic countries.

One case covered was that of Guangjun Zhao. Zhao arrived in Finland at the end of 2011 and worked there from 2011 to 2015 as a correspondent for Guangming Daily. Operating under cover as a journalist, Zhao was in fact an intelligence officer for China’s Ministry of State Security. In a related Swedish legal case from 2018, a Swedish spy working for the CCP was convicted of surveilling Stockholm’s Tibetan community. This spy made several trips to Finland between 2013 and 2015 to meet with Zhao and received payments from Zhao.

Another case involved Estonian lawyer and businesswoman Gerli Mutso. Mutso was initially recruited by a Chinese businessman who resided in Finland and held Finnish citizenship. The Chinese businessman acted as a bridge connecting Mutso with Chinese intelligence agencies. Mutso provided the Chinese military with intelligence services and with updates on the tunnel project between Finland and Estonia’s capital, Tallinn. She used a Gmail account shared with Chinese clients (CCP intelligence agents), communicating with them via saved email drafts (a method widely adopted by Chinese and Russian intelligence agencies).

Mutso also introduced these Chinese agents to Estonian oceanographer Tarmo Kõuts, who had access to classified files from Estonia and NATO’s research center in Italy. Mutso and Kõuts met with Chinese clients in locations such as Hong Kong and Bangkok to exchange intelligence. Kõuts admitted to his crimes and served a three-year prison sentence. Mutso was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.

Source: Epoch Times, December 23, 2024
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/24/12/23/n14396551.htm

Briefings | | |   @CS Geo-Strategic Trend