A Chinese coastguard vessel during a military exercise near the Taiwan-controlled Matsu Islands, close to the Chinese coast, on April 8, 2023. THOMAS PETER / REUTERS
Letter from Tapei
The head of Taiwan’s Secret Service, Tsai Ming-yen, sought to reassure members of parliament on Monday, March 11. He stated that “presently we do not see any risky signal that could catalyze a war [in the Taiwan Strait]” between China and Taiwan from now until President-elect Lai Ching-te has been sworn in on May 20. China would continue to wield both the carrot and the stick, this expert predicted. In addition to Chinese military maneuvers around the island, China has recently stepped up its attempts to infiltrate the Taiwanese army. Therefore, in the summer of 2023, Lieutenant-Colonel Hsieh, a helicopter pilot in the Taiwanese army, was offered the equivalent of $15 million (around €13.7 million), and a guarantee that his family would be given priority for exfiltration, if he accepted the mission to fly one of the American-produced twin-rotor Chinooks off the island to land on a Chinese navy ship in the Taiwan Strait.
This case, revealed in December 2023 by the Taiwanese press and then confirmed by the country’s defense minister, has served to illustrate the scale of the Chinese effort to infiltrate the enemy army and break its morale, even prior to the prospect of war. With Chinese President Xi Jinping having set the goal of unification – by force if necessary – Taiwan’s judiciary has in recent years been stepping up its revelations of cases of infiltration and spies within its armed forces. These have been aimed at obtaining maps of bases and operations, details of sensitive equipment – but also simply to publicly display weaknesses in Taiwanese troops’s detemination to resist.
“The sum involved seems staggering, but if it serves to demonstrate a problem of loyalty to the Taiwanese cause; weakens confidence in the army; and tarnishes its reputation; it’s worth it for China. It’s a priceless result,” said ex-general Chang Yan-ting, the former second-in-command in the Taiwanese air force. How could the US be persuaded to send troops to die fighting for the island, for example, if Taiwanese soldiers have defected for a fat check? The level of Chinese infiltration within the Taiwanese army has also contributed to a certain reluctance by the US to sell Taipei its state-of-the-art equipment, since there is a risk that the designs could be handed over to the Chinese side.
China has already developed its own helicopter capable of transporting more than 13 tons, the AC313A, and has been working on another project with Russia – but the Chinook, produced by the American company Boeing, has remained the benchmark for transporting troops and heavy load transport since the Vietnam War. This operation could therefore also be technologically motivated.
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