77-year-old former air force officer charged with spying
By Cheng Shu-ting and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted a 77-year-old retired air force captain for allegedly spying for China and collecting personal information about Taiwanese intelligence personnel, including obtaining property records through his son, a real-estate agent.
The man, surnamed Fai (費), retired from the air force in 1976 and went on to serve as a township official in China’s Hebei Province in 2021, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Fai in January 2024 was instructed by a man named Gao Jinli (高金力) in China to collect information on an intelligence officer from a Taiwanese government agency in exchange for an undisclosed sum.
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office is pictured in an undated photograph.
Photo: Yu Ruei-ren, Taipei Times
Gao allegedly asked Fai to find out the target’s occupation, vehicle information, home address and workplace, as well as other personal information, they said.
Fai allegedly hired a private investigator to look into the target, prosecutors said, adding the investigator was unaware of the purpose of the inquiry.
Fai allegedly used his 47-year-old son’s position at a real-estate company to access the company’s system and obtain records of properties registered to the target, prosecutors said.
He passed the information he had collected to Gao, they said.
In July 2024, Gao allegedly again instructed Fai to collect information on another officer.
On Aug. 17, investigators got a warrant to search Fai’s residence, subsequently detaining him.
After questioning Fai, a court granted prosecutors’ request to hold him incommunicado.
Fai denied the allegations, saying his personal information and telephone number had been misused, a source familiar with the case said.
Fai was charged under the National Intelligence Work Act (國家情報工作法) for alleged espionage and collecting, obtaining and disclosing information on the identities and movements of Taiwanese intelligence personnel to people in China.
He was also charged under the National Security Act (國家安全法) for allegedly collecting and providing documents and electronic records concerning classified matters, and under the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) with illegally using personal information as a non-government entity.
His son was charged under the Personal Data Protection Act, prosecutors said.
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