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Taiwan considers prison for China sympathizers in military

Disloyal personnel could be jailed for up to 7 years.

By RFA Staff 2025.03.10 -- Taiwan's defense ministry is proposing a law that could bring a lengthy prison term for anyone deemed disloyal to its military, it said on Monday, adding the Chinese Communist Party tried to lure officers while its spying was becoming "rampant."

"Any active military personnel who express loyalty to the enemy through words, actions, texts, pictures, electromagnetic records, scientific and technological methods, etc., which is sufficient to cause military disadvantages, will be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 1 year and not more than 7 years," the ministry said.

In recent years, the Taiwanese military, in cooperation with national security units, has cracked many espionage cases, it said in a statement.

"The Chinese Communist Party's intelligence gathering and espionage activities are becoming increasingly rampant," it said.

The Chinese side "uses money, investment, gambling and other methods to lure and recruit active-duty military personnel to sign written documents, shoot videos and other methods to swear allegiance to the enemy, which has seriously damaged national security," the ministry said.

A small number of officers and soldiers had "committed treason and crimes" and should be strictly punished, it said.

The ministry was working on a draft amendment to Article 24 of the Criminal Law of the Army, Navy and Air Force that would help "strengthen countermeasures against the Chinese Communist Party's infiltration and sabotage activities against the national military."

The amendment will be submitted to the island's government for review after completing the notice and legal procedures.

The National Security Bureau said in a recent report that the number of Taiwanese citizens charged with attempted espionage for China rose "significantly" to 64 last year from 10 in 2022 and 48 in 2022.

Seven retired military officials were prosecuted last year for activities such as giving China the coordinates and details of military bases and the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei.

Edited by Mike Firn.

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