Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=09/26/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=TAIWAN / SPY INDICTMENT L-ONLY

NUMBER=2-294511

BYLINE=KATHERINE MARIA

DATELINE=HONG KONG

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Prosecutors in Taiwan have indicted a retired military officer and his wife on charges of spying for China. Their son is facing espionage charges in a military court and could get the death penalty. V-O-A's Katherine Maria files this report from the Asia News Center in Hong Kong.

TEXT: Prosecutors in Taiwan's southern port city of Kaohsiung Thursday indicted Liu Chen-kuo and are seeking a life sentence upon conviction. Mr. Liu is accused of spying for China in one of a handful of high-profile espionage cases in half a century.

The prosecutor however recommended leniency for Mr. Liu's wife who allegedly persuaded the couple's son to steal secret information from a Taiwanese navel ship where he worked as a radio decoder.

Mr. Liu is a retired military officer-turned businessman. He was arrested in China in 1988 on smuggling charges and selling forgeries. And that is where prosecutors say Chinese officials recruited Mr. Liu as a spy.

Prosecutors say they have evidence that Mr. Liu and his wife then persuaded their son to also steal sensitive information.

Their son is being tried separately in a military court and if found guilty he could be sentenced to death.

Spying is not uncommon between Taiwan and Beijing, which split politically amid civil war in 1949.

Communist China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has threatened military action if Taiwan were to declare formal independence. Democratic Taiwan buys weapons for defense from the United States and military tensions run high.

There have been several high profile spy cases involving China and Taiwan.

Most recently, Beijing executed a colonel and major-general in 1999 for spying for Taipei. (signed)

NEB/HK/KM/JO