Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) A former Ministry of Culture (MOC) civil servant accused of supplying information on Tibetans in Taiwan to the Chinese government has been indicted on national security charges, prosecutors said Tuesday.
According to the Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office, Chen Temen Poyen (陳德門博彥), secretly recorded conversations with colleagues at the MOC’s Mongolian & Tibetan Cultural Center, which he then gave to China’s Ministry of State Security.
Prosecutors said Chen used a recording device disguised as a pen given to him in October 2019 by Fan Hsiang (方翔), a Taiwanese businessman with interests in China’s Hainan Province recruited by Beijing to spy on Tibetans in Taiwan.
Prosecutors allege that Fan and wife Jan Zhu (冉菊), who have also been indicted, recruited Chen at the direction of Chinese Ministry of State Security official Hou Zheng (侯正).
According to prosecutors, Hou, who first met Fan and Jan in 2017, provided the couple with funds as well as free travel to Hainan.
Prosecutors added that they had indicted two others allegedly recruited by Fan and Jan, former detective agency boss Ting Chao-chung (丁肇寵) and suspected gang member Tao Tai-pao (陶台寶).
Prosecutors said that Fan absorbed Tao as a member of their organization in January 2018 and offered him free travel to Hainan, where Tao was introduced to Hou.
In April 2017, Fan invited Chen to travel to Hainan to meet with Hou, prosecutors said.
According to prosecutors, Fan has been detained since August as part of an investigation into breaches of Taiwan’s National Security Act.
Meanwhile, the MOC said it had suspended Chen from his position and referred his case to the Disciplinary Court.
