Taiwan charges Chinese grad student with spying

TAIPEI: A Chinese graduate from one of Taiwan’s top universities was charged with espionage yesterday as prosecutors accused him of attempting to recruit spies for Beijing.

The indictment comes as officials warn of growing intelligence threats from China at a time of increasingly frosty ties between Taipei and Beijing.

China still sees the island as part of its territory to be brought back into its fold even though Taiwan has been self- governing since the two sides split after a civil war in 1949.

Relations have worsened since Beijing- sceptic President Tsai Ing-wen came to power last May.

The Taipei District Prosecutors office said yesterday a man surnamed Zhou — who came to Taiwan to study in 2012 — violated the National Security Act.

Local media identified the man as Zhou Hongxu from Liaoning province in northeastern China, who graduated from the National Chengchi University in Taipei last year.

Prosecutors said Zhou was recruited by a mainland official he met at an event promoting crossstrait exchanges in Shanghai in July 2014, who asked him to build a spy network in return for remuneration.

Zhou was told to “introduce politicians, officials in the military, police, intelligence and diplomacy units and other influential people in society to Chinese local officials in destinations abroad,” they said.

The Chinese government would pick up the tab for any meetings arranged with local mainland officials, to be held in locations abroad, Zhou was allegedly told.

Zhou then unsuccessfully attempted to recruit a Taiwanese official on multiple occasions between August 2016 and March this year, the prosecutors said.