Taipei: The Taipei District Court on Thursday approved a request by prosecutors to extend the detention of two former staffers of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suspected of engaging in espionage for China.
According to Focus Taiwan, the two detainees, Chiu Shih-yuan and Huang Chu-jung, had been held in custody since mid-February after being summoned by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office for questioning. Their detention period was due to expire on Saturday. Citing strong suspicion of serious crimes and concerns over potential collusion or destruction of evidence, prosecutors sought an extension of Chiu and Huang's detention. The court held a hearing on Thursday afternoon and approved the request.
The two will have their detention extended for another two months starting Sunday and remain held incommunicado during the period. Chiu, the former deputy head of the DPP's Taiwan Institute of Democracy, and Huang, a former assistant to DPP New Taipei Councilor Lee Yu-tien, are among several individuals suspected of spying for Chinese intelligence services while working for senior officials in the DPP government, which has been in power since 2016.
Other suspects in the case include Wu Shang-yu, who worked as an adviser in the office of President Lai Ching-te, and Ho Jen-chieh, former assistant to the Secretary-General of the National Security Council Joseph Wu during his tenure as Taiwan's Foreign Minister. According to the prosecutors, Huang was likely recruited by Beijing's intelligence services when doing business in China, and, after returning to Taiwan, started working with Ho, Wu Shang-yu, and Chiu to gather confidential information about Lai and other top officials.
After providing such information to the Chinese intelligence services through Huang, Ho, Wu, and Chiu received tens of thousands of Taiwan dollars in return, prosecutors said. Prosecutors claimed the probe into the case was expanded after they traced money flows between Huang and the others in February. Huang, Wu, and Chiu were detained in February following questioning, with Ho added to the list last week.