The Ministry of National Defense played down the threat posed by mainland Chinese spy Maj. Gen. Lo Hsien-che to Taiwan’s security Feb. 9, stating that he only had limited access to highly classified information.
“As director of the army’s information and communications bureau, Lo was mainly responsible for management duties,” said Lt. Gen. Wang Ming-wo, acting director of the MND political warfare bureau.
The director declined to elaborate on which ROC military operations may have been compromised, but said the MND had already implemented comprehensive damage control measures.
Condemning Lo’s actions as treason and a disgrace to the ROC armed forces, Wang said the case highlights mainland China’s unrelenting efforts to penetrate the Taiwanese military despite warming cross-strait relations.
The MND said Lo was recruited in 2004 while serving as a military attache in Bangkok. It is believed he fell prey to a “honeypot” set up by mainland Chinese intelligence services using a female agent.
Some military experts, however, cast doubts on Wang’s statement, claiming that Lo had access to a vital air, ground and sea battle management system. “If war breaks out between the two sides, Taiwan’s command system could be rendered useless,” they said.
The experts believe that as the system is set up for use with U.S. armed forces, military cooperation between Taipei and Washington could be jeopardized if Lo passed on sensitive information to mainland China.
“This incident could also have the potential to affect future U.S. arms sales to Taiwan,” they said. (JSM)
Write to Meg Chang at meg.chang@mail.gio.gov.tw